Review by Choice Review
Eagleton presents a lucid, historically oriented, philosophical investigation of ideology and social thought. An important subtheme is the ease with which legitimate discussions of ideology shade into either simplistic determinism (crude Marxism) or unwarranted relativism (some contemporary pragmatists). The heart of the book takes readers from the Enlightenment to the Second International; from Lukacs to Gramsci; from Adorno to Bourdieu; and from Schopenhauer to Sorel. A highlight is the probing though sympathetic discussion of Marx's ambiguous use of "ideology." Althusser, Freud, and Gramsci also receive detailed attention. Two opening chapters look at 16 meanings of "ideology" found in the literature and explore many possible relations among ideas, culture, actions, and power. Eagleton holds that ideologies are complex, evolving practices, habits, and patterns of thought that battle among themselves, shaping and being shaped by material and historical circumstances. Because we cannot transcend all ideology is no reason to think that all are equally true. Eagleton's book is lively and well written; this reviewer knows of no better introduction to how the idea of ideology works in social thought.-D. Christie, University of New Hampshire
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Library Journal Review
In an age marked by sharp ideological conflict, many postmodernists have declared ideology dead. To explore this paradox, Marxist critic Eagleton analyzes the slippery and often contradictory conceptions of ideology, tracing them through their various permutations from Destutt de Tracy, through Marx and Lukacs, to assorted postmodernists. Rejecting those views that reduce ideology to consciousness at one extreme, or social practices at the other, Eagleton argues that it should be understood in terms of a complex set of effects in discourse. In this way he preserves it as a way of analyzing social practice while avoiding the implicit nihilism of the postmodernists. The argument is compelling, marked by Eagleton's characteristic clarity, wit, and cogency.-- T.L. Cooksey, Armstrong State Coll., Savannah, Ga. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Choice Review
Review by Library Journal Review
