Philosophy
Introduction
This is the review of the book "Social Modernization and the End of Ideology Debate: Patterns of Ideological Polarization written by Russell J. Dalton. A summary and critique is also written based on the review on how the book is written and what the author is trying to imply with his writing.
Critique
This book portrays how the ideological stage in politics has ended. Ideological polarization as stated in the book represents the divergence of governmental behavior to ideological extreme conditions. The history of ideology was written in a perfect pattern in which it portrays that it has been ended on the first part of the book. However, it was written that ideology did not really end, thus it just changed as the people became part of modernization.
There has been a socioeconomic polarization term that was mentioned in the book, those are Left and Right. It was a good comparison how the author explained the two terms based on young and old generation’s adaptation. It showed that the old generation means Left as supporting lower class citizens behind social programs with the influence of labor unions, while Right means support for middle-class citizens with the influence of business sector. For new generations, Left and Right have new ideological identity. Left means being against nuclear energy, pro sexual equality, and in favor of multiculturalism. On the other hand Right means being in favor of traditional moral values and lifestyle, and the usual sense of national identity. It was a good explanatory showing that ideology is indeed alive, but it only changed its content because of modernization.
Conclusion
Ideological polarization can be tag as part of the political system. It is merely one of the things that make the politics balanced in a way that pros and cons can be raised. In this book, it clearly showed how people changed their ideological perspective based on how they are influenced by modernization. The information in this book can be essential for political system’s improvement, so an ordinary citizen should also read this piece as each every one of us is part of ideological polarization.
References
Dalton, R. J. (2005, April). Social Modernization and the End of Ideology Debate: Patterns of Ideological Polarization. Retrieved from http://www.socsci.uci.edu/~rdalton/archive/jjps06.pdf
