1.  Image of human beings and society: (a) what is the relationship between the person and the social world within which he/she lives?  Does it dominate the person, or does the person play an active role in determining social existence?
(b) What is the nature of society? Is it only the sum of its parts, or is it something more?
(c) Can society change?  If so, how does this change occur?

2. The Nature and Role of the State:  Where does ìthe stateî originate, whose interests does it serve, and what are its functions?  Which model of social welfare is predominant?

3. Human nature: what is the basic nature of all people?  Are all people good, bad, a mixture?  Are they the product of socialization, original sin, genetic make-up, instincts, etc.?

4.  Fundamental Economic Institutions (FEI): What are the methods by which economic activity takes place within any given society?  By what method is the wealth generated by a society distributed?

5. Fundamental Operative Values (FOV): What are the important things that society should reflect, particularly with respect  to the relationship between the individual and society?  More specifically, how are the values of individualism, liberty, equality, and solidarity (or fraternity) interpreted within the ideology?

6.  Theory of Social Need: How is need to be determined?  If social welfare is about the meeting of identified human needs, on what basis does an ideology suggest that these needs be assessed?  In particular, is a need different from a ìwantî and how does this impact our assessment of need?  More specifically, how is poverty ìmeasuredî and what impact does this have on the meeting of human need?

7. Theory of Social Justice: What principle of social justice is being applied (noblesse oblige, commutative principle, or distributive principle)?  How is the concept defined, or is it perhaps ignored as being irrelevant to issues related to social welfare?

8.  Implied Ameliorative Action: given all of the above, how does a given ideology propose that certain social problems are to be dealt with?  What kind of society is the ideology proposing, and what are the suggested methods to achieve it?