Political ideologies, a very confusing, yet choice-oriented field of study, or discussion, are still under debate even today. Most of the debate about ideology is its definition. Briefly defined, Roskin says an ideology is a belief system that society can be improved by following certain doctrines; usually ending in ?-ism?. The funny thing to me about ideologies is that many of them sound the same, yet the meaning behind them is totally different. Ideologies have sculpted, and still do sculpt our society and economic standing today. One then asks the question, ?If there were no ideologies, what would the world be like today??. There are nine major ideologies: classic liberalism, modern liberalism, classic conservatism, modern conservatism, Marxist socialism, social democracy, communism, nationalism, and fascism. Among all nine of these ideologies, three of them are under the most debate today; classic liberalism, modern liberalism, and conservatism. Do these three ideologies have the most impact on our economic shaping today? Classic liberalism is an ideology, founded by Adam Smith, to keep government out of the economy.
Gunboat Smith (LOC)
Smith Street, Warwick - no's 55 to 61 Smith Street
Ethel Smith (left) and Fanny Rosenfeld (second fro...This later became known as conservatism in the United States. Liberalism, derived from the Latin word meaning ?free?, focused on the idea of ?laissez-faire?, or let the economy alone?. The main idea here was to completely delete government interference in economics, trade, and society as a whole. Their sole basis was on keeping the government out of all society interaction. One asks the question now, was there anyway possible that this ideology could work in the real world today? Unfortunately, no one stopped to think of the chaos that would come with free competition unsupervised by the government. Would that have been in any way, shape, or form just or fair? Classic conservatism, on the other hand, was an ideology focused on keeping the...