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İdeoloji
To study ideology is to ask such questions as: Where do our ideas about society and politics come from? Are these ideas socially determined? If so, what validity can they claim? In this brief yet comprehensive introduction, David McLellan examines the origins of the concept of ideology, analyzes its place in the Marxist and non-Marxist traditions, and assesses the various uses to which it has been put in recent social and political theory, particularly the connection between ideology and the "end of history" debate. Revised and updated, this second edition is for all those who are interested in a clear presentation of the most basic concept in the philosophy of the social sciences.
113 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1986
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About the author
David McLellan
51 books37 followersDavid McLellan (born 10 February 1940) is an English scholar of Karl Marx and Marxism. He was educated at Merchant Taylors' School and St. John's College, Oxford University.
McLellan is currently visiting Professor of Political Theory at Goldsmiths' College, University of London. He was previously Professor of Political Theory at the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Kent.
McLellan has also been Visiting Professor at the State University of New York, Guest Fellow in Politics at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Simla, and has lectured widely in North America and Europe.
McLellan is currently visiting Professor of Political Theory at Goldsmiths' College, University of London. He was previously Professor of Political Theory at the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Kent.
McLellan has also been Visiting Professor at the State University of New York, Guest Fellow in Politics at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Simla, and has lectured widely in North America and Europe.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
February 14, 2022
Riddled with spelling-erros (a few of which were outright frustrating to decipher), but it does the job of giving a brief review on some of the key thinkers and intellectual historical "plot twists" of ideology as a concept.
The author gives a couple of arguments for and against pretty much each of the mentioned theoreticians' conceptions of ideology, but these are - for obvious reasons - kept at a minimum, and no person should expect to gain an in-depth understanding of all that is fitted under the term 'ideology'.
The author gives a couple of arguments for and against pretty much each of the mentioned theoreticians' conceptions of ideology, but these are - for obvious reasons - kept at a minimum, and no person should expect to gain an in-depth understanding of all that is fitted under the term 'ideology'.
May 20, 2011
Probably the most irredeemably dreadful academic book I've read. Imagine a half-arsed, incoherently structured literature review which somehow manages to be both overly obtuse and remarkably superficial at the same time. Now imagine that the author makes some attempt to sprinkle that review with a bit of critical engagement, but is unable or unwilling to consistently put forward coherent arguments, instead frequently accusing books of being 'bourgeois', 'conservative', or 'dangerous', as if this somehow invalidated their points. Imagine, also, that the author is quite clearly unfamiliar with some of the authors he mentions (I'd put money on him never having read a word of Foucault, for example) but decides to completely wing it anyway.
Imagine that, tasked with writing a book about the concept of ideology (a pretty silly idea in itself), the author decides to almost entirely ignore influential contributions by the likes of Hegel and Hobbes, instead spending far too much time rehearsing Marxist arguments before grudgingly straying into other areas. Imagine a final chapter about postmodernism which is largely a fact-free rant rather than a conventional piece of academic writing (ironically, in that sense it resembles a second-rate postmodernist work), and might just have scraped a 2:2 if one of my students had written it.
It gets a star for only being 80 pages long, and because typing out this rant/review has cheered me up.
Imagine that, tasked with writing a book about the concept of ideology (a pretty silly idea in itself), the author decides to almost entirely ignore influential contributions by the likes of Hegel and Hobbes, instead spending far too much time rehearsing Marxist arguments before grudgingly straying into other areas. Imagine a final chapter about postmodernism which is largely a fact-free rant rather than a conventional piece of academic writing (ironically, in that sense it resembles a second-rate postmodernist work), and might just have scraped a 2:2 if one of my students had written it.
It gets a star for only being 80 pages long, and because typing out this rant/review has cheered me up.
April 20, 2013
I read the first edition, so can't comment on improvements, but in any case this is possibly the best brief introduction I've seen. Being a Marx-specialist, McLellan obviously gives plenty of space to the Marxist tradition and rightly so. There's one funny slip, though: 'In general, then, for Marx, only those elements in the superstructure of ideas were ideological which served to perpetuate relations of denomination'. Oo-er, Marx as an ecumenical thinker?
October 20, 2008
Remarks: Chinese translation read.
May 20, 2015
Kavram tarihçesi anlatan çok temel bir giriş kitabı. Tüm bakış açılarına ve tartışma konularına kısaca ve üstünkörü bir şekilde değiniyor. Bana yetersiz geldi. Fazla kafa açmadı.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews