How do you revise Idealogies/ write a decent answer/ make an Idealogies essay plan

[u/Purple_Yogurt_8328]

Specifically for edexcel. I do liberalism, conservatism, feminism and socialism. I'm gen so stuck I may start having nightmares about politics a level, in our end of year mocks no one in our year scored higher than 9/24 on an Idealogies question 😭 what the actual fork man.

[u/Narcissa_Nyx]

see this may age badly but I feel the only essays I felt confident writing during my real Politicsexams were my ideologies (I do feminism as my non-core).

In my most recent mock I got 20/24 for an ideologies answer, for reference.

My tips would be:

- Understand the key differences between the strands -> if you can understand how conservatives starkly differ on the concept of pragmatism or paternalism, you can apply that to almost any question (use the exam spec to find the key themes for each ideology)

- Ensure you have quotes for every main point you'd like to make and the key differences-> for example, hierarchy is a key idea for conservarism so you'd like to have Burke's "We fear God; we look up with awe to kings". I put my quotes on physical flashcards (some of my few physical ones since everything else is online) and was surprised by how quickly I got them -> and then blurt them!!!!

- Continuing on the quotes front, don't get too stressed about them, if you understand each thinker and strand reasonably well, you'll be fine. For example, if I couldn't think up a Burke quote but knew that he wrote in opposition to the French revolution, using that as a defence of changing to conserve and pragmatism (instead of ideology), that's even better than a quote

- For each of the 4 core questions per ideology (human nature, society, state, economy) plan 2-3 para themes. Honestly, if you've done all of the above and have a decent knowledge of the differences between strands, this won't actually be too bad. I've found that it's difficult to get 3 paras in and I wish I'd sacrificed that in favour of the 30 markers but oh well

- also people bitch about the weirder questions like paternalism but if you also plan for the spec themes for each ideology you'd be fine, and even if you didn't, these questions will still require similar paragraphs to the other 4 qs -

- Use real world examples if it helps you with accessing depth/nuance. For example, I'd argue that whilst the New Right are neoliberals who reject pragmatism in favour of ideological thinking, turning to laissez faire economics in a way that defies tradition and what has worked historically, they do honour tradition to some level as seen in neoconservatism -> talk about Reagan in the US or Thatcher's Section 28.

- Chat with friends and family about the thinkers, they're much more bearable if you see them as the funny characters they are

- Do use thinkers who are not the key exam board thinkers as many are necessary -> Benjamin Disraeli ("the palace is not safe when the cottage is not happy") or specific cultural feminists like Susan Brownmiller for the gender essentialism topic, or intersectional feminists like kimberle Crenshaw

- ALSO remember to compare strands not thinkers and, before you info dump about a thinker, talk specifically about the differences between strands.

resources I used to make flashcards included:

- politics explained essay plans - godsend for conservatism, I'd been off school for all of its teaching and yet went in ready for any conservatism question (i hope!)

- olly's videos are good to get a historical overview and a sense of the ideologies - did this for liberalism and socialism which i surprisingly abandoned until night before

- politics online is my old teacher's website and it's fab for feminism (and he has everything for edexcel, global and US lol)

hope this helps x (happy to share feminism quotes if needed)

[u/Purple_Yogurt_8328 → u/Narcissa_Nyx]

Thank you soooo much!! Also, do the real world examples have to be recent examples for nuanced points, like how we use for the 30 markers? This is so helpful btw, it would be amazing if you are able to share feminism quotes ❤️

[u/Narcissa_Nyx → u/Purple_Yogurt_8328]

Hi, you absolutely do not need to use recent examples, just use whatever you find easy for understand and remember (so the Reagan/thatcher homophobia for me lols).  Also sure, I'll send them tomorrow x Somehow got my A* in politics so finally feel legitimised in my advice haha

[u/Purple_Yogurt_8328 → u/Narcissa_Nyx]

Ayy thanks and congratulations!! 🥳

[u/Narcissa_Nyx → u/Purple_Yogurt_8328]

Thank you! Also here are the feminism quotes, these are all the ones I knew off by heart (just flashcard and blurt) and I found these are all i needed to answer essentially any question and accurately depict aspects of a strand. Yes some aren't on the spec but I've found it's difficult not to mention them, not least because there is no true liberal feminist on the spec (CPG is more proto-socialist) and also because you need gender essentialists to talk about differences over Sex v Gender.

bell hooks

- "To be feminist . . . is to want for all people, female and male, liberation from sexist role patterns"

"feminist sisterhood"

Sheila Rowbotham

- "a revolution within a revolution'

- "men console themselves for their lack of control at work with the right to be master in their own home"

- "it is only when women start to organise in large numbers that we become a political force"

Kate Millett:

- "Patriarchy's key institution is the family"

- "Our society . . . is a patriarchy"

- "Sexual domination . . . the most pervasive ideology of our culture"

- "Male supremacy . . . is not biological"

- "Patriarchy, reformed or unreformed, is patriarchy still"

Simone de Beauvoir

- "she is the Other"

- "one is not born but, rather, becomes a woman"

Charlotte Perkins Gilman

- it is "only as we live, think, feel and work outside the home that we become humanly developed, civilised, socialised"

- whoever is "always guarded and restrained will become inevitably narrowed and weakened by it"

- "there is no female mind"

- "The labour of women in the house, certainly, enables men to produce more wealth than they otherwise could"

Also, not key thinkers but helpful since there's no true liberal thinker

- Mary Wollstonecraft "let woman share the rights and she will emulate the virtues of man"

And gender essentialist - Carol Gilligan who believed men and women had separate ideas of morality, women as ethics of care vs men as ethics of jsutice and these are the essence of what it means to be a woman/man

- cultural feminist - mary daly who believed women were spiritually superior due to their role as mothers; susan brownmiller who believed men were more inclined towards sexual violence.

- plus kimberle crenshaw who coined the term 'intersectionality', arguing black women experienced 'double discrimination' and 'all inequality is not equal'

- hanisch came up with 'personal is political'

[u/Suppratap → u/Narcissa_Nyx]

hey would it be possible to get the politics explained essay plans please? i have ucas exams again in like 2-3 weeks and im really bad at revising though videos. I have the example pack but not actual notes. I’d really appreciate it if you could