Social Studies 30-2 cheat sheet

An ideology is an organized set of beliefs about human nature, society, and the proper role and limits of government.

Four common components of an ideology: a view of human nature, an interpretation of history, a vision of the ideal society, and beliefs about the role of the state.

Individualism holds that individual rights, autonomy, and self-interest take priority; collectivism holds that group welfare and shared goals take priority.

The common good refers to conditions that benefit all or most members of a community and is often used to justify limits on individual freedom.

Spectrum placement: radical (rapid fundamental change), liberal (reform), conservative (tradition and gradual change), reactionary (return to a past order).

Ideologies are shaped by family, education, religion, media, peers, socio-economic status, and significant events such as war or economic depression.

Utopian thinking envisions a perfect society; dystopian thinking warns that attempts to build perfection can produce oppression.

Individuals rarely hold one pure ideology; most hold an eclectic mix, and an ideology's meaning can shift across time and place.

An ideology becomes influential when it is institutionalized in law, constitutions, political parties, or mass movements.

Core principles of liberalism: individual rights and freedoms, rule of law, limited government, private property, economic freedom, equality of opportunity, and consent of the governed.

The Enlightenment (17th-18th centuries) shifted authority from divine right and tradition to reason, science, and the individual; key thinkers include Locke, Rousseau, Montesquieu, and Smith.

John Locke argued for natural rights to life, liberty, and property, and that government rests on consent and may be overthrown if it violates those rights.

Montesquieu proposed separating powers into executive, legislative, and judicial branches to prevent tyranny; this influenced modern constitutions.

Adam Smith's laissez-faire principle holds that markets guided by supply, demand, and self-interest allocate resources more efficiently than heavy state regulation.

Key liberal documents: Magna Carta (1215), English Bill of Rights (1689), US Declaration of Independence (1776), French Declaration of the Rights of Man (1789), US Bill of Rights (1791).

Classical liberalism emphasizes negative freedom ('freedom from' interference) and minimal government; modern liberalism adds positive freedom ('freedom to' participate) through welfare programs and regulation.

The Industrial Revolution exposed poverty and unsafe labour, prompting reform movements - unions, suffrage, abolition, and public education - that expanded liberal rights.

Modern welfare liberalism draws on Keynesian economics: in recessions governments spend and create jobs to stimulate demand rather than waiting for markets to self-correct.

Marxism (Marx and Engels, Communist Manifesto 1848) holds that history is a record of class struggle and that capitalism exploits workers, predicting revolution and collective ownership of production.

Communism in practice, as in the Soviet Union and Maoist China, replaced private ownership with state or collective ownership and one-party control, often enforced by force.

Fascism exalts the nation and state above the individual, demands unquestioning loyalty, suppresses opposition, and is led by a single charismatic dictator such as Mussolini or Hitler.

Nazism combined fascism with racial ideology: Aryan supremacy, anti-Semitism, the Holocaust, expansionism (Lebensraum), and total state control.

Totalitarianism means the state penetrates nearly every aspect of life - media, education, religion, economy - and tolerates no rival authority.

Conservatism resists rapid liberal change by emphasizing tradition, order, hierarchy, and family; not all conservatism is authoritarian.

Religious fundamentalism resists secular liberalism by claiming revealed text as the sole basis of law and morality, as in Iran's theocracy after 1979.

Indigenous resistance to liberalism often centres on collective land ownership, treaty rights, and cultural survival against private-property and assimilation policies.

Methods of resistance range from peaceful protest, strikes, boycotts, civil disobedience, and legal challenges to propaganda, censorship, violence, and revolution.

Citizenship combines rights (expression, assembly, voting) with responsibilities (obeying law, paying taxes, jury duty); active citizenship means participating to improve the community.

The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (Constitution Act, 1982) protects fundamental freedoms (s.2), legal rights (s.7-14), and equality rights (s.15).

Section 33, the notwithstanding clause, allows Parliament or a provincial legislature to override certain Charter rights (s.2 and s.7-15) for up to five years.

Section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982 recognizes Aboriginal and treaty rights; collective rights also protect groups such as official-language minorities.

Rights are limited by section 1 of the Charter: reasonable limits demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.

Globalization is the growing economic, cultural, and political interdependence of nations; supporters cite growth and access, critics cite job loss, inequality, and cultural erosion.

Media literacy matters because ownership concentration, advertising pressure, and social-media algorithms can create echo chambers and bias citizens' ideological views.

Sustainable development meets present needs without compromising future generations and appears in agreements such as the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement.

Canadian multiculturalism (policy 1971; Multiculturalism Act 1988) frames diversity as national identity and raises debates over accommodation, security, and shared values.