Ideology: A Very Short Introduction

by Michael Freeden

Overview

Ideology is one of the most controversial terms in the political vocabulary, exciting both revulsion and inspiration. This book examines the reasons for those views, and explains why ideologies deserve respect as a major form of political thinking. It investigates the centrality of ideology both as a political phenomenon and as an organizing framework of political thought and action. It explores the changing understandings of ideology as a concept, and the arguments of the main ideologies. By employing the latest insights from a range of disciplines, the reader is introduced to the vitality and force of a crucial resource at the disposal of societies, through which sense and purpose is assigned to the political world. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780191577703
Publisher:	OUP Oxford
Publication date:	06/26/2003
Series:	Very Short Introductions
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Michael Freeden is Professor of Political Theory at the University of Nottingham and Emeritus Professor of Politics, University of Oxford. His books include The New Liberalism: An Ideology of Social Reform (Oxford, 1978); Liberalism Divided: A Study in British Political Thought 1914-1939 (Oxford, 1986); Ideologies and Political Theory: A Conceptual Approach (Oxford, 1996); Ideology: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford, 2003); Liberal Languages: Ideological Imaginations and 20th Century Progressive Thought (Princeton, 2005); The Political Theory of Political Thinking (Oxford, 2013), and The Oxford Handbook of Political Ideologies (co-edited, Oxford, 2013). He is the founder-editor of the Journal of Political Ideologies. In 2012 he was awarded the Sir Isaiah Berlin Prize for Lifetime Contribution to Political Studies by the UK Political Studies Association and the Medal for Science of the Institute of Advanced Studies, Bologna University.

Table of Contents

	List of illustrations	ix
1	Should ideologies be ill-reputed?	1
2	Overcoming illusions: how ideologies came to stay	12
3	Ideology at the crossroads of theory	31
4	The struggle over political language	45
5	Thinking about politics: the new boys on the block	67
6	The clash of the Titans: the macro-ideologies	78
7	Segments and modules: the micro-ideologies	94
8	Discursive realities and surrealities	103
9	Stimuli and responses: seeing and feeling ideology	114
10	Conclusion: why politics can't do without ideology	122
	References and further reading	129
	Index	135