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Fascism and Political Theory
Fascism and Political Theory offers both students and researchers a thematic analysis of fascism, focusing on the structural and ideological links between fascism, capitalism and modernity. Intended as a critical discussion of the origins and development of fascist ideology, each chapter deals with a core substantive issue in political theory relevant to the study of fascism and totalitarianism, beginning with an assessment of the current state of debate.
The emphasis on formal ideology in contemporary Anglo-American historiography has increased our awareness of the complexity and eclectic nature of fascist ideologies which challenge liberalism and social democracy. Yet in too many recent works, a programmatic or essentialist reading of fascist ideology as a ‘secular religion’ is taken for granted, while researchers remain preoccupied with the search for an elusive ‘fascist minimum’.
In this book Woodley emphasizes that many outstanding questions remain, including the structural and ideological links between fascism and capitalism, the social construction of fascist nationalism, and the origins of fascist violence in European colonialism. This volume consolidates the reader’s theoretical understanding and provides the interdisciplinary skills necessary to understand the concrete social, economic and political conditions which generate and sustain fascism.
A timely critique of culturalist and revisionist approaches in fascism studies which provides a concise overview of theoretical debates between liberalism, Marxism and poststructuralism, this text will be of great interest to students of politics, modern history and sociology.
The emphasis on formal ideology in contemporary Anglo-American historiography has increased our awareness of the complexity and eclectic nature of fascist ideologies which challenge liberalism and social democracy. Yet in too many recent works, a programmatic or essentialist reading of fascist ideology as a ‘secular religion’ is taken for granted, while researchers remain preoccupied with the search for an elusive ‘fascist minimum’.
In this book Woodley emphasizes that many outstanding questions remain, including the structural and ideological links between fascism and capitalism, the social construction of fascist nationalism, and the origins of fascist violence in European colonialism. This volume consolidates the reader’s theoretical understanding and provides the interdisciplinary skills necessary to understand the concrete social, economic and political conditions which generate and sustain fascism.
A timely critique of culturalist and revisionist approaches in fascism studies which provides a concise overview of theoretical debates between liberalism, Marxism and poststructuralism, this text will be of great interest to students of politics, modern history and sociology.
- GenresTheory
288 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 23, 2011
Once again I go beyond the Goodreads scale to clarify this as 4.5 stars or 9 out of 10. This work is an exhaustive and thorough analysis of fascism in its varied forms. Woodley is not content to rehash tired or myopic theories, instead in he utilizes the highest form of critical theory and synthesizes numerous historical analyses of fascism into a seemless whole. I am no fan of political science and that is the weakest part of this book but it is such a minor part of the book and essentially utilizes a philosophical method for creating a comprehensive dialectic.
Woodley provides a truely advanced understanding of fascism outside of its purely political rubric of rightist or leftist yet neither takes the easy way out by defining it as a totalitarianism (actually Woodsley essentially sides with theorists who reject the notion of totalitarianism). Instead, Woodley discusses in nine essays on fascism analyzes its causes, effects, and interactions with political, economic, social, and personal orientations in a mostly ahistorical fashion (yet of course contextualizes certain examples by way of historical fascism). For me, the nuanced understanding in Fascism, capitalism and the market is the most insightful, though, I would classify some of the other analyses such as Fascism, gender and sexuality as being revolutionary.
Woodley draws on the insights of numerous sources of thought to come to his own unique conclusions from the popular to the more wonkish. But this is not just a rehashing of historical dialectics, Woodley mixes them in with a truly unique narrative of what fascism is, how it operates, and the spaces where it is weilded. This is not light reading, but if you are truly seeking to get to the depths of this mode of thought and action, this is the most advanced, comprehensive book to deal with the subject in the contemporary age.
Woodley provides a truely advanced understanding of fascism outside of its purely political rubric of rightist or leftist yet neither takes the easy way out by defining it as a totalitarianism (actually Woodsley essentially sides with theorists who reject the notion of totalitarianism). Instead, Woodley discusses in nine essays on fascism analyzes its causes, effects, and interactions with political, economic, social, and personal orientations in a mostly ahistorical fashion (yet of course contextualizes certain examples by way of historical fascism). For me, the nuanced understanding in Fascism, capitalism and the market is the most insightful, though, I would classify some of the other analyses such as Fascism, gender and sexuality as being revolutionary.
Woodley draws on the insights of numerous sources of thought to come to his own unique conclusions from the popular to the more wonkish. But this is not just a rehashing of historical dialectics, Woodley mixes them in with a truly unique narrative of what fascism is, how it operates, and the spaces where it is weilded. This is not light reading, but if you are truly seeking to get to the depths of this mode of thought and action, this is the most advanced, comprehensive book to deal with the subject in the contemporary age.
November 23, 2015
A very useful piece, dare I say. "Fascism and political theory" is at the same time a handy and well-structured overview of the discussions of the major closely related topics to fascist ideology (political economy, violence, race, nationalism, gender, modernity) and at the same time offering a useful twist by seeking to "check" the observations with neofascism and in a certain sense, the strongly varied cases of fascist government. Some spectacular work has been done on the level of aesthetics / symbolic dimensions of the ideology that offers the author to take on the questions of political theory and open the challenges that the discipline itself needs to face with respect to the challenge of aesthetics and ideology.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews