Ideology: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) Review

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Ideology: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) ReviewThis is an extremely useful introduction to the topic of ideology in a congenial format. Don't be misled by the subtitle, "A Very Short Introduction." The Oxford Press very-short-introduction series summarizes scholarship in salient areas without dumbing the material down. I have used these little books in graduate seminars to supplement more specific readings. They make it possible for readers new to an area to get their bearings fairly quickly and make informed choices about future reading.
As to this particular title, Freeden performs a number of valuable services. One is to dispel the idea that the term "ideology" is a pejorative label for unsavory thinking. This approach, all too common among prominent American sociologists in the 1950s and 1960s, inhibits any mature understanding of the role of ideologies in social, economic, and political contexts. All understandings of reality are mediated understandings, influenced by our socioecnomic circumstances and histories. We do not have the choice of seeing our surroundings "as they really are," whatever that may mean. In a confusing world, Freeden points out, ideology allows human beings to assign meaning to otherwise disconnected experiences. It is ubiquitous and unavoidable.
Freeden also offers a very competent review of the important literature and main theoretical approaches to this subject. In addition to the standard references to Mannheim, Gramsci, and Geertz, he discusses the work of hermaneuticists such as Paul Ricoeur, conceptual historians like Reinhart Koselleck, discourse theorists such as Foucault, and post Marxists such as Laclau and Mouffe. If you are interested in the topic, but don't want to waste your time flailing around, trying to separate the intellectual wheat from the chaff, this book would be a good starting point.
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