| What is an ideology? | a set of ideas, values and theories that help explain the world and guide political action |
| What is the the traditional political divide in the UK, underpinned by class support? | Socialism/conservatism |
| What is left wing? | Socialists are referred to as left wing and believe in greater levels of equality. |
| What ideas do leftists support? | They support ideas such as state intervention to achieve greater levels of equality. They would support higher taxation and greater public / state spending. |
| Which party in the UK is traditionally left wing? | The Labour Party in the UK has historically had a socialist/left wing character. |
| What is right wing? | The right believes in people as individuals and support low levels of government intervention. |
| What do right wing supporters support? | They think that the state should not interfere with people’s lives and that inequality is healthy and natural as it reflects success. The right would support ideas such as low taxation and less public spending. |
| Which party in the UK is traditionally right wing? | The UK Conservative Party has historically had a right wing character. |
| What is capitalism? | An economic system that most countries in the world use. It allows individual people to own and accumulate as much wealth (money and possessions) as they can. |
| What is interventionism? | This is when a state will intervene in people’s lives, especially in terms of business and money.The main form of government intervention is taxation. |
| How has the left/right divide changed in recent years? | during the 1980s, the Conservative Party became more ideological- Margaret Thatcher had a particular set of ideas and principles she wanted to implement. Some have argued that the party abandoned traditional conservatism in favour of free-market liberalism. In the 1990s, the Labour Party underwent a process of modernisation in response to losing four successive general elections. Under Tony Blair, the party was rebranded as ‘New Labour’. |
| What was the political parties post-war consensus? | in the years following World War Two, the Labour Party enacted a series of reforms, for example the creation of the NHS and a comprehensive system of welfare. The aim was to lessen the inequalities caused by capitalism, without completely replacing it- ‘social democracy’. |
| What is Thatcherism? | The Conservatives came to power under Thatcher’s leadership in 1979, and initiated a series of reforms which became known as ‘Thatcherism’ (also referred to as the ‘New Right’). This was a reaction against what was seen as ‘inefficient’ state intervention and the ‘motivation-sapping’ welfare system. This time was characterised by privatisation (private companies running previously state-owned industry and services, for example utility companies and the railways) |
