Date of Award
Spring 2015
Document Type
Capstone
Degree Name
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Department
Historical & Political Studies; College of Arts & Sciences
First Advisor
Dr. Amy Widestrom
Abstract
The purpose of this research project is to assess and evaluate the role of ideology in fostering an individual’s political evaluations of cultural content such as media and literary works. In this paper, I explore the current debate about how ideologies are formed, how ideologies are expressed, and how ideologies influence or shape our political evaluations of content. First I approach the formation of ideology by introducing readers to cultural theory, and its' emphasis on how group versus grid fosters ideology. I then explore how ideologies are expressed by introducing readers to the politics of assent of framework. Next, using Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, I present a case study involving multiple scholarly ideological interpretations of the same story using common Anglo-American ideological frameworks such as Classical Liberalism, Classical Republicanism, and Radicalism. Lastly, I employ Marxist critical theory and critical discourse analysis to perform my own analysis of the story that subscribes to Marxist ideology. By approaching the story from an alternative ideological foundation, I demonstrate how our existing ideological beliefs are the primary contributors to our political evaluation of cultural content.
Recommended Citation
Perri, Cynthia, "Harry Potter & the Riddles of Political Ideology" (2015). Senior Capstone Theses. 16.
https://scholarworks.arcadia.edu/senior_theses/16