Product Description

Ideology is one of the most controversial terms in the political vocabulary, exciting both revulsion and inspiration. This book examines the reasons for those views, and explains why ideologies deserve respect as a major form of political thinking. It investigates the centrality of ideology both as a political phenomenon and as an organizing framework of political thought and action. It explores the changing understandings of ideology as a concept, and the arguments of the main ideologies. By employing the latest insights from a range of disciplines, the reader is introduced to the vitality and force of a crucial resource at the disposal of societies, through which sense and purpose is assigned to the political world.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #75022 in Books
• Published on: 2003-06-26
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 160 pages

About the Author
Michael Freeden is Professor of Politics at Oxford University and Director of its Centre for Political Ideologies, and Professorial Fellow at Mansfield College, Oxford. Among his books are The New Liberalism: An Ideology of Social Reform (Clarendon Press, 1978); Liberalism Divided: A Study in British Political Thought 1914-1939 (Clarendon Press, 1986); Reappraising J.A. Hobson (ed.), (Unwin Hyman, 1990); Rights (Open University Press, 1991);
Ideologies and Political Theory: A Conceptual Approach (Clarendon Press, 1996); Reassessing Political Ideologies: The Durability of Dissent (ed.) (Routledge, 2001). He is the founder-editor of the Journal of Political Ideologies.