Syllabus summary
We are studying A level Politics (AQA). There are three units:
- the government and politics of the UK
- the government and politics of the USA, and comparative politics
- political ideas.
I am teaching Unit 3. Political ideas. We will look at three core ideologies:
- liberalism
- conservatism
- socialism.
We will also look at one or two optional ideologies, which we will (as a class) decide democratically:
- anarchism, ecologism, feminism, multiculturalism, nationalism.
We will learn about the five (or more) key thinkers associated with each ideology. We will also learn about each ideology’s four main dimensions:
- human nature
- economy
- society
- state
The Unit 3. Political ideas exam
The Unit 3. Political ideas exam
Section A consists of three 9 mark questions. Spend about 40 minutes on this section (about 13 minutes per question). You must write three paragraphs per question, so about 4 minutes per paragraph.
Section B consists of one 25 mark source-based question. You will be given one or two sources and asked to analyse, evaluate and compare the arguments made in the source(s). You will need to use (a) your own knowledge and (b) the information in the source. Spend about 40 minutes on this question.
Section C consists of one 25 mark essay question. For Unit 3, there is a choice of questions, one on each optional ideology. You will answer the essay question on the optional ideology we study. You should spend about 40 minutes on this question.
To achieve high marks in each exam you will need to show synopticity. This means identifying and explaining connections, similarities and differences across topics in each unit and across the whole three units.
An introduction to Unit 3. Political Ideas
Homework
(a) Explain in one paragraph how Boswell characterises politics.
(b) Research one of the optional ideologies, and prepare a short presentation (2-3 minutes) on it.
Optional task: see slide 25 of PowerPoint.
Six key liberal thinkers
The outcome of our analysis of the syllabus was that the essential concepts of liberalism include freedom, justice, individualism, rights, equality, and the state/government.
Homework
(a) Learn the names of each liberal thinker, and ideally their nationality and dates of birth.
(b) Download the summary table, ready to fill in over the liberalism unit.
Liberalism overview
Liberalism: John Locke
Homework
Explain the classic liberal ideas of John Locke. Use our classwork and at least two other sources e.g. the textbook.
Extension
Inform your answer with additional research using advanced sources e.g.
Locke’s Political Philosophy (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
Locke, John: Political Philosophy | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (utm.edu)
These are peer-reviewed sources and therefore can be challenging. So be wise in how you use them!
Liberalism: John Stuart Mill
Homework
Write a summary of Mill’s political philosophy, including his attack on hedonism.
You could inform your answer with extra research. There is a wealth of good resources available e.g.
- 101Millslib.pdf (nmsu.edu), a summary of many aspects of Mill’s classic liberalism
- Reformulating Mill’s Harm Principle | Mind | Oxford Academic (oup.com), a peer-reviewed exploration of self-regarding action and other-regarding action distinction.
Liberalism: Mary Wollstonecraft
Mary Wollstonecraft was alive chronologically between Locke and Mill.
She defended both (classical) liberalism and feminism. This suggests that the two are not necessarily in opposition.
Write a summary of Wollstonecraft’s liberalism, using some or all of the resources below.
To organise your notes, use the categories of
- human nature
- economy
- society
- state
make sure your notes cover this subject matter:
- equality and rights
- ‘revolution controversy’
- criticisms of aristocracy
- republicanism
YouTube clips
Texts
Foundation source: Mary Wollstonecraft: ‘Britain’s first feminist’ – BBC Teach
Intermediate source: Mary Wollstonecraft: Individualist Feminist, Classical Republican | Libertarianism.org
Advanced source: Mary Wollstonecraft (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
Audio books
You can listen to the audio book of her classic text, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, which some claims is one of the twelve books which changed the world.
You can also listen to the Mary Wollstonecraft BBC podcast
Liberalism: Thomas Hill Green
Liberalism: John Rawls
Liberalism: Betty Friedan
Liberalism: Economics
One of the oldest economic systems is slavery, which is characterised by the master-slave relationship.
The next system, feudalism, is characterised by the lord-serf relationship.
Capitalism is the economic system allied with liberalism. Both, for instance, emphasise individualism. At the heart of capitalism is the employer-employee relationship.
Homework: Four major thinkers on the economy
Research each of the five thinkers and write one to three paragraphs explaining their views on the economic system.
I’ve included YouTube clips that you might find helpful.
1. Adam Smith
The father of economics
2. John Maynard Keynes
Founder of Keynesian (state interventionist) economics
3. Friedrich Hayek
Progenitor of neo-liberalism, popular with Thatcher and Regan. (Sometimes considered a conservative because he harked for a return to the kind of capitalism of the 18th and 19th centuries.)
4. Milton Friedman
The neo-liberal who inspired Regan and Thatcher.
Liberalism: End of unit exam
You have an end of unit exam on liberalism on Thursday 17 November 2022. It will last 1 hour 20 minutes.
You’ll answer three 9 mark questions (section A) and one 25 mark question (Section B).
Make sure that your revision covers all of the syllabus content:
AQA | Politics | Subject content | Political ideas
Here are past questions from the last three public exams:
- Explain and analyse three ways in which liberal thinkers have viewed human nature. [9 marks].
- Explain and analyse three ways in which liberal thinkers have viewed the role of the state. [9 marks]
- Explain and analyse three ways in which liberal ideas limit individual freedom. [9 marks]
Mark-schemes are available of the AQA website:
AQA | A-level | Politics | Assessment resources
Obviously, a natural question in the next session would be
- Explain and analyse three ways in which liberal thinkers have viewed the economy. [9 marks]
Some more example three mark questions:
- Explain and analyse three ways in which the concept of human nature is significant to liberal thinkers. [9 marks]
- Explain and analyse three ways in which liberal thinkers have viewed the role of the state in the economy. [9 marks]
- Explain and analyse three ways that liberals have viewed state intervention. [9 marks]
You will answer the following question from the November 2021 paper:
To help you prepare for the exam, there are some useful A level resources here:
Politics Review Extras Magazine Archives (hoddereducation.co.uk)
It has a number of online summaries/example essays/tasks that you can complete.
These articles are especially useful:
- Hammal R, Political ideologies: Liberalism (Politics Review 24, 1, 2014) – a knowledge-check quiz
- Stansfield C, Political ideologies: Modern liberalism (Politics Review 22, 4, 2013)
- Boss G, Political ideologies: Freedom vs equality (Politics Review 23, 3, 2014)
Conservatism: Introduction
Conservatism: Thomas Hobbes
Task
- As you did for Mary Wollstonecraft, research the conservatism of Thomas Hobbes.
- Design a presentation to give to the class next week (1 December 2022).
- Include information under the usual headings: human nature, economy, society, and state.
Useful resources
Simple
A level Politics ‘Study Rocket’
Hodder A level book extract (page 2)
Intermediate
Advanced
- Hobbes’ Leviathan (1651) primary text
- Stanford peer-reviewed article
- IEP peer-reviewed article
Conservatism: Michael Oakeshott
Conservatism: Ayn Rand
Socialism
9 mark questions