As a student you’ll sometimes be expected to read and evaluate an article or other piece of content for its political bias. This is not an easy thing to do!
Our political views stem for out notions of what is normal, responsible, moral, and reasonable. This poses a problem when we realize that opinions often differ from person to person and from year to year. The concept of normal is a moving target! While one society will consider a certain behavior as normal and decent, another society (or person) will consider it to be "out of step."
Physical appearance is a good example of how different societies differ when it comes to what is considered normal or even moral. Some societies believe that women should be covered by clothing from head to toe. Other societies have very different beliefs—even to the point that some societies believe that women’s clothing is optional from the waist up! Sound surprising to you? It might be, depending on where you grew up.
In any given society, customs can go back thousands of years and they can be influenced by diverse historical circumstances. Notions about propriety can stem from religious beliefs, but they can also stem from geography.
In some cultures, body piercing and tattooing are considered to be immoral, as they are considered to be acts that defile the human body. In other cultures, body piercing and tattooing are religious expressions. It all depends partly on geography. So who is right?
Your job, as you assess a piece of writing or a speech for its political slant, is to determine your understanding of normal or neutral. As a budding political thinker you will need to determine your "zero" point and decide what beliefs and opinions fall to the "left" or "right" of that point.
Conservative and Liberal
In the political arena today, (in the United States) there are two main schools of thought, and two opposing political camps that comprise much of the voting population. Their categories are conservative and liberal. Conservative thought is sometimes called "right wing" and liberal/progressive thought is called "left wing."
As you read or listen to textbooks, speeches, news programs, and articles, you will come across statements that feel out of line with your own beliefs. It will be up to you to determine if those statements are leaning (biased) to the left or right.
In the pages that follow, you’ll find traits and beliefs that are commonly associated to liberal or conservative thought.
