Version 1.0 General Certificate of Education (A-level) January 2013 Government and Politics GOV3B (Specification 2150) Unit 3B: Ideologies Report on the Examination
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Unit 3 (GOV3B): Ideologies General The vast majority of students found the paper accessible, with all four themes proving popular. The best answers synthesised political philosophy and political action to pleasing effect, revealing a fine grasp of scholarly works and policy. The weaker scripts failed to address the specific demands of the question, applying prepared answers to the questions which confronted them instead of dealing with the questions before them. Topic 1 Liberalism Question 01 Most students were able to explain the term meritocracy as a system which rewards achievement rather than ascription. The question also required students to explain the importance of meritocracy in liberal thinking and, once again, the majority of those who attempted this question appreciated that liberalism, particularly new liberalism, was and still is committed to equal opportunity and to social justice, and that such values are strongly associated with open societies in which all individuals are of equal moral worth and where social position and material rewards reflect the distribution of ability and effort in society at large. A few students contrasted these views with traditional Tory support for social hierarchies based on inherited status and such comparisons were duly rewarded. Question 02 Virtually all of those students who attempted this question recognised that liberals have traditionally been inclined to view the state with suspicion and they were able to provide sound reasons for this scepticism. The better answers pointed out that classical liberals not only viewed the state as a necessary servant employed to ensure order and efficiency but also appreciated the capacity of the state to provide support for free markets. The best answers went even further by referring to key texts and thinkers on the themes of limited government and unregulated economies. Most students were also aware that the new/progressive school of liberalism saw the need for greater state involvement in the social and economic spheres to tackle the problems and tensions produced by advanced capitalism and, again, there were many useful references to thinkers and texts. The real discriminator here, however, was the word today ; for high marks students were required to assess the validity of the assertion in the question in the context of the contemporary situation. A significant number of students produced good but excessively historical answers, failing to focus on how liberals in recent years have emphasized the need for further constitutional and institutional reforms to tackle what they perceive to be overbearing centralised power. The best answers also alluded to Keynes and his legacy in the economic sphere and to liberal calls for greater regulation of the banking sector and for further taxes on the rich and for more stringent controls on multi-national businesses and corporations. The higher-end answers also pointed out that in the economic sphere more than in the social sphere, some differences did exist between those who supported the ideas presented in the Orange Book and those who were somewhat sceptical of the efficacy of supply-side economic measures to resolve the nation s current problems. 3
Topic 2 Socialism Question 03 There were very few poor answers here. Virtually all of the students who attempted this question appreciated that gradualism was associated with democratic socialism. They wrote about its rejection of revolutionary action in favour of the peaceful, incremental, parliamentary route to socialism. Once again, the best answers competently discussed key political personalities, thinkers and movements. A few students explained gradualism in a more general sense, largely failing to recognise its associations with democratic socialism. Such responses did not score well. Question 04 Virtually all of the students who opted for this question recognised the centrality of equality to socialism. Most answers tended to emphasise strongly socialism s desire to end inequality and to create (ideally) a classless society based on firm egalitarian principles. The better answers emphasised that this commitment to equality was evident in all schools of socialism. Many went on to write about how democratic socialists increasingly championed equality of opportunity over outcome as the twentieth century progressed, on the grounds that this was a more realistic goal than the somewhat utopian dream of absolute equality. The best answers illustrated this change by referring to key texts and policies. By doing so, their answers revealed a good knowledge and understanding of socialist actions in practice, particularly in the UK, from the early days of socialism through to New Labour and the current Miliband era. Some students effectively challenged the claim, asserting that there were beliefs and values other than egalitarianism which were also central to socialism and these were duly rewarded. Topic 3 Conservatism Question 05 This is in many ways the counter-view to meritocracy and a number of students emphasised this point in their answers. In essence, the question required students to explain why conservatives have traditionally favoured social structures in which economic and political power is vested in elites on the grounds that members of these elites are better-suited to manage the affairs of state, given their superior intellectual capacity and training for leadership. Many also referred to the notion of responsibility on the part of the upper classes for the general well-being of the lower orders. Many answers also recognised that such hierarchies, according to conservatives, helped to create and maintain social stability and order in an essentially chaotic world. Question 06 The vast majority of students pointed out that conservatives have long been associated with pragmatism, rejecting ideological blueprints in favour of common-sense solutions to problems. The best answers traced this outlook back to key thinkers such as Burke. They also pointed out how leaders such as Peel and Disraeli had been quick to adapt to changing situations in order to maintain stability in society. The better answers also recognised this pragmatism in the statements, policies and programmes made and pursued by Conservative governments during the 1950s and 1960s. Many students also proffered the view that Thatcherite conservatism could, in contrast, be viewed as being ideological, given its strong associations with the social and economic ideas championed by the New Right. A few students, however, challenged the idea that Thatcherism was largely an ideology on the 4
grounds that many of her actions, on closer analysis, were more pragmatic than dogmatic, using a variety of examples to justify this claim. Such approaches were invariably well thought out and well argued. In the majority of cases, analysis moved directly to conservatism in the Cameron era. Discussions of conservatism between 1990 and 2005 invariably received short shrift. Discussion of conservatism in the UK post-howard ranged from the highly generalised to thoughtful analysis of the extent to which contemporary conservatism owes more to pragmatism than it does to ideology. Whilst the vast majority of the answers read were exclusively British in their focus, it is nevertheless gratifying to report that some students extended their analysis beyond the UK. Where this was the case the USA became the particular focus of analysis, with many students claiming that, in contrast with the UK, American conservatism did indeed appear to be grounded in firm ideologically-based views. Topic 4 Fascism Question 07 Students appeared to find this to be the most challenging of the four 10 mark questions and it certainly produced the widest range of responses in relation to marks. A few students completely failed to appreciate what this question was essentially about. Where this was so, students tended to write ill-focused and generalised answers about fascism. Here the marks scored were achieved more by default than by design. Answers which could be regarded as sound argued that fascism tended to be associated with eras of social and economic difficulty when people were struggling in their everyday lives to do little more than survive. The more scholarly and informed answers recognised that national struggle was essentially Darwinian and that fascists, as believers in racial/national supremacy, regarded the emergence of super-races as evidence of this survival of the fittest theory. These answers also appreciated that the fascist glorification of war and conflict was part of the ideology s ongoing struggle to establish racial supremacy and territorial domination. There were some excellent references to key thinkers in these scripts, evidence that students in a number of schools and colleges have been very well taught on the period of European political philosophy from the Enlightenment onwards. Question 08 As well as proving to be a popular theme, these answers also tended to reveal good overall knowledge and understanding. Virtually all the answers revealed at least a sound appreciation of the core values associated with liberalism and with liberal democracies and of fascism s rejection of these values in favour of alternatives which stood in stark contrast to the prevailing beliefs associated with the Enlightenment and Post-Enlightenment eras. The majority of students were also able to explain clearly why fascists rejected these liberal values and why they were confident in championing ideas which were rooted in myths and romanticism rather than logic. The very best answers examined fascism beyond the war years to include neo-fascism. Where this was the case, they usually claimed that whilst contemporary extreme right-wing movements still clearly hold many traditional fascist beliefs and values, they do nevertheless appear to be prepared to utilise democratic processes to promote their ideas and to achieve electoral success. In general, the answers focused on totalitarianism, the glorification of warfare, racial and national superiority and the rejection of rationalism as being the key fascist values which contrasted most starkly with liberalism. A minority of students also made fine points about how fascism also rejected free markets in favour of corporatism. 5
Mark Ranges and Award of Grades Grade boundaries and cumulative percentage grades are available on the Results Statistics page of the AQA Website: http://www.aqa.org.uk/over/stat.html. Converting Marks into UMS marks Convert raw marks into marks on the Uniform Mark Scale (UMS) by using the link below. UMS conversion calculator www.aqa.org.uk/umsconversion 6