Essays

Ideology is a way of thinking that reflects the social need and political doctrines of an individual or group. There are many different people and different circumstances. The results in a variety of different ways of thinking, values and beliefs. Our ideology grows with us from childhood.

From the moment a child is born, the family's influence begins to impact his/her thought process.

A child is like a sponge that absorbs ideas and beliefs. Belief are taught to a child in subtle ways such as just listening to the parents and their opinions from everything including politics, social problems, moral issues and even opinions about how others behave. It is within the family unit that a person learns their moral values. It is from their parents that a child is taught right and wrong. Often this is through religious training. Religious beliefs or the lack of religious beliefs has a great influence on a person's beliefs and values, In the early years a child looks to their parents as the final authority on any subject. It's not uncommon to overhear a child explain something as being absolutely true because their mommy or daddy said so.

As a child grows older they see the world through outside influences such as the school system, the media, and their peers. School is often a child's first opportunity to think for themselves. They experiment with ideas and values of their own. School teaches children to use a critical thought process. One way where this is done is to give a child opinion in a debate and they must find reasons to defend a certain viewpoint. They are exposed to a wide variety of viewpoint and opinions. Another source of influence on values and beliefs is the media. Free speech guarantees the rights of anyone to express their opinions. Children begin to form new beliefs and ideas of their own the family influence is still there, but not as strong. Also, peers become a major influence on a young person's thinking. To express their newfound values a child will often go through a stage of rebellion where they reject a lot of their parent's values.  This doesn't mean that they have taken on a whole new belief system. It just means they are expanding the values, thinking, and belief system from the home with new ideas and thoughts.

The country where a child is raised is one of the major influences on a person's values and thinking process. If you look at different countries' political beliefs and economic systems and study the history it's clear the impact that the country you live in has on a person's thinking values and beliefs. Every country has a dominant ideology, but within it are many competing ideologies. There many differing ideologies in a country but there is usually a predominate ideology, and its citizen tend to believe in their country's ideological superiority. Our thinking, values and beliefs arc a mix of what we are taught and the country we live in. Finally, each person's experiences make their ideology unique.

It seems that individuals adopt the thinking, values and beliefs of those around them. People learn their values from

their families first. Later many other factors like the media, religious training, school system, and peers continue to influence person's beliefs. Also of great importance is the country you live in. A country's historical past is very  influential in a person's beliefs and values.