Ideology: An Introduction [Hardcover]

Terry Eagleton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1991 | ISBN-10: 0860913198 | ISBN-13: 978-0860913191

This accessible introduction unravels the varied meanings of ideology, from the Enlightenment to postmodernism.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

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.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"A splendid polemicist." - New Statesman --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Verso Books (May 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0860913198
• ISBN-13: 978-0860913191
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,583,486 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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36 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Slugs it out with difficult material, August 8, 2000

By 

Douglas Doepke (Claremont, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ideology: An Introduction (Paperback)

This is a difficult, but rewarding book for readers interested in the concept of ideology in a postmodern environment. Essentially, ideology means false societal beliefs that become institutionalized so they can serve the interests of a ruling class. Ideological beliefs are like propaganda, but differ in being much more deeply embedded in how a person thinks about the society he or she lives in. Thus, for those of us who are Americans, we all tend to have certain beliefs about the nature of the democracy we live in. Beliefs that structure the way we act, like being duty-bound to go to the polls to elect our leaders. Critics, on the other hand, might point out how these beliefs actually work against most people and for the hidden interests of those elites who really hold power in America. If the critic is right, then those beliefs would be ideological ones and represent a "false consciousness" about democracy-in-America's true nature.

There is a conceptual issue that arises with the notion of ideology. It implies at its heart that there are objective truths in the world that do not depend on our idea of them in order for them to be true. On a more extreme view, it can mean there are absolute truths that cannot be relativized to any person, group, or time period. The natural sciences were long held as our only reliable source of these objective truths. Thus, the early supporters of the idea of ideology believed that by using scientific methods, the false beliefs of ideology could be unmasked or exposed. However, since the time of the early Greeks there have been thinkers who challenged the idea of objective truth. Truth, these skeptics argue, is in the eye of the beholder. Thus science, for one, discloses no inner truths about the world; it only aids us in remaking things in ways that satisfy the needs of the more powerful among us. The issue that non-skeptics like Eagleton must confront is that without a clear concept of objective truth, the whole idea of ideology seems impossible.

The problem for our historical period is that the climate is dominated by a skepticism toward objective truths, making the concept of ideology very unfashionable. Eagleton would like to rescue false consciousness from the current version of skepticism (postmodernism), which is what the book is mainly about. He examines the various positions that both defenders of the concept (Marx, Lukasz, Althusser) and its critics (Nietzsche, Rorty, Derrida), among others, have taken over the years. So far as I can tell, Eagleton presents no new theory of his own. Instead he uses some forceful examples to illustrate the underlying practical value the idea of false consciousness has for us all.

Certainly some background in philosophy is needed to navigate these difficult routes. But if you agree that many of our most embedded and structured beliefs serve the interests of others instead of ourselves, and that we do not come by these beliefs accidentally, then you too have an interest in ideology.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Illuminating on ideology & its intellectual history, August 16, 2003

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Tron Honto - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ideology: An Introduction (Paperback)

The subtitle to this book reads 'an introduction', but I doubt that your typical undergraduate student would find this a useful introductory text. Rather being a bland, dispassionate catalogue of various views on ideology, Eagleton's book is a lively and even at time virulent debate with the long line of intellectuals who have sought to conceptualize ideology from the likes of Marx, Schopenhauer, Lukács, Althusser, etc.

At its core, the enterprise contained with the books stands as a defense of the Marxist critical tradition against post-modernism and relativism-meaning that he desires to preserve the notion of ideology as a critical device for emancipation from false beliefs and mental processes that reinforce social oppression. Thus, after its initial chapters covering the usage of the term 'ideology' in speech and the social manifestations of ideological strategies, the Marxist debates take the forefront of the discussion almost entirely. In the final pages, Eagleton attempts to rebuff post-modern and neo-Marxist erosions of the viability of the concept of ideology. If you never considered Marxism to be the school of thought with the most invested interest in preserving the notion of 'ideology', a reading of this book will suggest strongly to the contrary.

Eagleton has not only an incredible talent for not only conveying his argument in a lucid, witty and convincing manner, but also in presenting the position of diverse authors with whom he interacts. He thus proves himself not only to be an excellent mind and author but also a superb reader.

10 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Decent Introduction, April 16, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Ideology: An Introduction (Paperback)

This is a decent introduction to ideology, and how our understanding of it has changed since the formalization of its study in the Enlightenment.
Unfortunately, Eagleton's attitude towards the "postmodernist" or "post-structuralist" thinkers who are his so-rarely named enemies (except for the poor Michel Foucualt) frequently reduces their arguments to straw men, and then simplistically and reductively refutes them. He expresses no interest in exploring the possibilities of Foucault's work, or of engaging in any significant manner with Lyotard or Baudrillard. To say Baudrillard's politics are vacuous is in one sense true and in another sense misses the point.
Furthermore, some of his readings (for example, of Nietzsche) are similarly reductive and ignore everything that does not explicitly address the subject of ideology, much to the detriment of his argument.
The book's simple stylistic manner makes it easy and quick to read but perhaps impairs its philosophy.
Eagleton, as the back of my copy announces, is a "splendid polemicist," and this book reinforces that distinction, while leaving open the question of whether or not one wants to be considered a "polemicist."