As austerity measures are put into place the world over and global restructuring is acknowledged by all as an attempt to bolster the economic system that lead to the crash, there is a great need to come to grips with the economic, political and philosophical legacy of Marx. Of particular interest are Marx's analyses of alienation and the cycles of boom and bust thought to be integral to the functioning of capitalism. Moreover, as the Cold War drifts into the history books, it is possible to reconsider the lasting impact of Marx's analyses without the shadows cast by the Soviet version of communism. Equally, though, scholars are increasingly turning to Marx for insight into the rise of religion and the corresponding demise of political ideologies that seems to mark the contemporary age. Are we witnessing 'the return of Marx'? Few scholars have done as much to tease out the intricacies of Marx, ideology and religion and their overlapping concerns as the eminent writer and Marx biographer, Professor David McLellan. This book brings together a group of internationally renowned academics to reflect upon, develop and criticise McLellan's analyses of these three themes with a view to contributing more broadly to scholarly debates in these fields. This exciting and timely analysis will be of interest to scholars of political theory, the history of political thought (including historical methodology), Marx and Marxism, sociology of knowledge (particularly in relation to discussions of ideology), religion and theology more widely.

Ideology is one of the most hotly disputed terms in the lexicon of social and political theory. It continues to generate intellectual dispute more than 200 years after its birth in the fervour of the French Revolution. The most recent battle-lines around the idea of ideology have formed in the aftermath of the strident critique of ideology launched by post-structuralists such as Foucault and Deleuze. Their claim that "there is no such thing as ideology" has created a theoretical environment which polarizes critical opinion either for or against ideology.;This work aims to break with this culture of antagonism by bringing together leading scholars in the field to establish a dialogue between post-structuralism and ideology critique. For the post-structuralists there is a need to generate a sensitive account of ideology so as to bolster their claim that they have a significant contribution to make to social and political criticism. For the ideology theorists there is a need to engage with the post-structuralist critique of ideology without taking the assumptions that post-structuralists have so thoroughly criticized. The essays in this book aim to show how the intellectual posturing

As austerity measures are put into place the world over and global restructuring is acknowledged by all as an attempt to bolster the economic system that lead to the crash, there is a great need to come to grips with the economic, political and philosophical legacy of Marx. Of particular interest are Marx's analyses of alienation and the cycles of boom and bust thought to be integral to the functioning of capitalism. Moreover, as the Cold War drifts into the history books, it is possible to reconsider the lasting impact of Marx's analyses without the shadows cast by the Soviet version of communism. Equally, though, scholars are increasingly turning to Marx for insight into the rise of religion and the corresponding demise of political ideologies that seems to mark the contemporary age. Are we witnessing 'the return of Marx'? Few scholars have done as much to tease out the intricacies of Marx, ideology and religion and their overlapping concerns as the eminent writer and Marx biographer, Professor David McLellan. This book brings together a group of internationally renowned academics to reflect upon, develop and criticise McLellan's analyses of these three themes with a view to contributing more broadly to scholarly debates in these fields. This exciting and timely analysis will be of interest to scholars of political theory, the history of political thought (including historical methodology), Marx and Marxism, sociology of knowledge (particularly in relation to discussions of ideology), religion and theology more widely.

This major textbook offers both an introduction to and key readings in twenty core political concepts. It blends original essays that survey debates and contact with up-to-date primary literature to provide students with an ideal collection for use on a wide range of courses in political studies.

It reflects the broad nature of politics generally and political philosophy in particular from a perspective that highlights current debates and new trends surrounding many of the concepts we use to orient ourselves in the political world. The original essays and key readings together form an unparalleled introduction to the most dynamic and contested aspects of political studies that will be of interest to all who wish to engage with the issues animating current political life.

The following concepts are introduced:

Justice

Civil Society

Liberty

Power

Equality

Human Nature

Rights

Community

Democracy

The Nation

Representation

Globalisation

Toleration

Ideology

Multiculturalism

Discourse

The State

Difference

The Rule of Law

The Body Politic

Key Features:

Only Reader and Guide in one volume on the subject of Political Concepts

Covers the core concepts taught on Politics courses

Each section includes a 5000-word introduction to the subject and two key texts - includes 40 of the most influential primary readings in contemporary political studies

An original contribution from the editor on the multidimensional nature of political concepts

An extensive bibliography and selected further reading to guide the student towards more in-depth research

Introductions to each Part designed to help students connect different sections together

Your one-stop guide to poststructuralism: where it came from, what it's achieved and where it's going. Written by experts in their field, this important reference volume surveys the challenges and provocations raised by the major voices of poststructuralism: Foucault, Deleuze, Derrida, Cixous, Lyotard, Guattari, Kristeva, Irigary, Barthes and Baudrillard. Thematically organised and clearly written, it will guide students in philosophy, literature, art, geography, politics, sociology, law, film and cultural studies around the nature and contemporary relevance of poststructuralism. It explores the emergence of poststructuralism, from its origins in Marxism and structuralism to its global academic impact. It includes chapters that are arranged by theme and topic, showing which ideas captivated poststructuralist thinkers. It looks at the criticisms of poststructuralism. It investigates the new trends and recent debates within and around poststructuralism.

In the context of a new global order where the logic of the market reigns virtually unopposed, there is a clear need for original thinking that might reinvigorate a progressive political project. This collection of essays brings together the work of a number of leading scholars who are concerned to construct a convincing basis for incisive criticism today. These contributors represent the most vibrant and influential of contemporary critical perspectives: egalitarian liberalism, socialism, poststructuralism, psychoanalysis, hermeneutics and critical theory.

1930: Salter's Creek, former trading-post, an isolated settlement in NW Canada long-fallen into decline after rumours of a gold strike turned out to be false, serves scattered outlying homesteads hacked out of the surrounding forest by immigrant Scottish families dispossessed of their Highland birth-right by the Clearances. It is necessary to decide who should be responsible for the welfare of Kip Harrison, orphaned aged eight by a car accident and adopted by his elderly Great Aunt who dies shortly before his eleventh birthday. Should his guardian be the austere Minister and his wife, or the amiable schoolmaster whom Kip himself prefers? Nobody except the reader is aware of the boy's accidental encounter with the fanatical old itinerant preacher `Pope' Potter with which the story opens and is to have such far-reaching consequences. In an exceptionally dry summer, the threat of forest fires in everyone's mind, a worrying pattern of small conflagrations and the bizarre desecration of the church increases tension as The Great Blaze eats its way towards Salter's Creek.

"Key Concepts in Philosophy" is a series of concise, accessible and engaging introductions to the core ideas and subjects encountered in the study of philosophy. Specially written to meet the needs of students and those with an interest in, but little prior knowledge of, philosophy, these books open up fascinating, yet sometimes difficult ideas. The series builds to give a solid grounding in philosophy and each book is also ideal as a companion to further study. Philosophy underpins political concepts, ideals and debates. The extent and nature of our rights, liberties and responsibilities, the role of the state and the best means of its governance are all questions to have been addressed by great philosophers throughout history - and questions students of political philosophy must engage with. "Politics: Key Concepts in Philosophy" offers a thorough, lucid and stimulating account of the central theories and ideas encountered in political philosophy. The text is thematically structured, covering the discipline's principal ideologies: Statism; Realism; Liberalism; Conservatism; Socialism; Anarchism; and Environmentalism. It also offers a brief history of political philosophy and the major political philosophers, including Plato, Aristotle, Locke, Rousseau, Hobbes, Marx and Rawls, and, valuably, concludes with a look at 'applied' political philosophy, relating the discipline to contemporary political situations and questions. Philosophy undergraduates will find this an invaluable aid to study, one that goes beyond simple definitions and summaries to open up a new and stimulating range of ideas.

`The truth will set you free' is a maxim central to both theories and practices of resistance. Nonetheless, it is a claim that has come under fire from an array of critical perspectives in the second half of the 20th century. Iain MacKenzie analyses two of the most compelling of these perspectives: the poststructuralist politics of truth formulated by Michel Foucault and Gilles Deleuze and the alternative post-foundational account of truth and militancy developed by Alain Badiou. He argues that a critically oriented version of poststructuralism provides both an understanding of the deeply entwined nature of truth and power and a compelling account of the creative practices that may sustain resistance.

The Idea of Pure Critique will be invaluable to students of Kant as well as those interested in Deleuze and Guattari's contribution to philosophies of difference. More fundamentally, the book presents a series of stimulating political and philosophical challenges to the apathy and indifference that pervade modern life. What is required of critique if it is to overcome indifference? This question addresses core themes in modern, post-Kantian and European philosophy, challenging theory's resignation in the face of contemporary political and economic formations. In this book, Iain Mackenzie argues eloquently that if such indifference is to be overcome, critique must first be demarcated in its purity, as an idea of critique in and of itself. Moreover, for the idea of critique to become pure we must view it as being essentially the construction of difference. Only in this pure form, understood as the construction of difference, can critique hope to overcome the crushing indifference of our current age.

The Idea of Pure Critique will be invaluable to students of Kant as well as those interested in Deleuze and Guattari's contribution to philosophies of difference. More fundamentally, the book presents a series of stimulating political and philosophical challenges to the apathy and indifference that pervade modern life. What is required of critique if it is to overcome indifference? This question addresses core themes in modern, post-Kantian and European philosophy, challenging theory's resignation in the face of contemporary political and economic formations. In this book, Iain Mackenzie argues eloquently that if such indifference is to be overcome, critique must first be demarcated in its purity, as an idea of critique in and of itself. Moreover, for the idea of critique to become pure we must view it as being essentially the construction of difference. Only in this pure form, understood as the construction of difference, can critique hope to overcome the crushing indifference of our current age.

Occupying a space in-between conventional scholarship and imaginative storytelling, The University in Crumbs: A Register of Things Seen and Heard is an experimental work that dramatizes the everyday life of the academy. Consisting primarily of a series of five first-person reports, Robert Porter, Kerry-Ann Porter and Iain Mackenzie provide the reader with a number of stories that attempt to capture some of their everyday experiences of academic life in the UK, roughly between 2017 and 2022. Self-consciously written in a subjective and conversational register, and often in dialogical form, The University in Crumbs is an accessible series of interrelated narratives that allow us to develop a concrete sense of the grain, texture and feel for what it might be like to work in the academy at a specific point in time. These stories, first-person reports, dialogues, come alive, acquire their meaning, force and pragmatic effect by way of a rather unique circumlocutory form. There is a directedness to the everyday talk engaged in by Robert, Kerry-Ann and Iain that nonetheless, simultaneously, indirectly loops in and out of a kind of technical academic talk that provides the book its light and shade. University in Crumbs is an experimental work that implicitly and explicitly animates philosophy, social, cultural and political theory through first-person experiences and, in so doing, breathes new life into what can often otherwise remain rather conventional and technical academic language-games. More than that, this book dramatizes ideas and concepts in ways perhaps less burdened by the weight of canonical tradition, and encourages those readers with the talent to portray their social world differently to be more licentious and less bashful in putting such talents to work.

In the wake of the new far-right populisms, the fragmentation of global narratives of progress, and the dismantling of economic globalization, there are signs that neoliberalism is beginning to enter its death throes or at least starting to fundamentally mutate. This provides us with a roughly fifty-year cycle with which to re-assess the rise and potential fall of neoliberalism. Using 1968 as one of the inaugural moments of this history, this interdisciplinary collection seeks to reassess the significance and legacy of the global 1968 uprisings from today's vantage point. While these uprisings arguably helped bring an end to a number of forms of oppression, the period following them also saw the re-entrenchment of class power to a level not seen since the 1920s. Without drawing any simple or direct lines of causation, the sequence of the past fifty years reflects what could be termed a double bind or "lose-lose" scenario. Yet, particularly given the present-day indicators of a crisis of neoliberal hegemony, this volume argues that returning to 1968 today may offer critical and comparative resources for thinking a way out of our current impasse.

Throughout history, comedians and clowns have enjoyed a certain freedom to speak frankly often denied to others in hegemonic systems. More recently, professional comedians have developed platforms of comic license from which to critique the traditional political establishment and have managed to play an important role in interrogating and mediating the processes of politics in contemporary society. This collection will examine the questions that arise when of comedy and critique intersect by bringing together both critical theorists and comedy scholars with a view to exploring the nature of comedy, its potential role in critical theory and the forms it can take as a practice of resistance.

Throughout history, comedians and clowns have enjoyed a certain freedom to speak frankly often denied to others in hegemonic systems. More recently, professional comedians have developed platforms of comic license from which to critique the traditional political establishment and have managed to play an important role in interrogating and mediating the processes of politics in contemporary society. This collection will examine the questions that arise when of comedy and critique intersect by bringing together both critical theorists and comedy scholars with a view to exploring the nature of comedy, its potential role in critical theory and the forms it can take as a practice of resistance.

"Key Concepts in Philosophy" is a series of concise, accessible and engaging introductions to the core ideas and subjects encountered in the study of philosophy. Specially written to meet the needs of students and those with an interest in, but little prior knowledge of, philosophy, these books open up fascinating, yet sometimes difficult ideas. The series builds to give a solid grounding in philosophy and each book is also ideal as a companion to further study. Philosophy underpins political concepts, ideals and debates. The extent and nature of our rights, liberties and responsibilities, the role of the state and the best means of its governance are all questions to have been addressed by great philosophers throughout history - and questions students of political philosophy must engage with. "Politics: Key Concepts in Philosophy" offers a thorough, lucid and stimulating account of the central theories and ideas encountered in political philosophy. The text is thematically structured, covering the discipline's principal ideologies: Statism; Realism; Liberalism; Conservatism; Socialism; Anarchism; and Environmentalism. It also offers a brief history of political philosophy and the major political philosophers, including Plato, Aristotle, Locke, Rousseau, Hobbes, Marx and Rawls, and, valuably, concludes with a look at 'applied' political philosophy, relating the discipline to contemporary political situations and questions. Philosophy undergraduates will find this an invaluable aid to study, one that goes beyond simple definitions and summaries to open up a new and stimulating range of ideas.

This major textbook offers both an introduction to and key readings in twenty core political concepts. It blends original essays that survey debates and contact with up-to-date primary literature to provide students with an ideal collection for use on a wide range of courses in political studies.

It reflects the broad nature of politics generally and political philosophy in particular from a perspective that highlights current debates and new trends surrounding many of the concepts we use to orient ourselves in the political world. The original essays and key readings together form an unparalleled introduction to the most dynamic and contested aspects of political studies that will be of interest to all who wish to engage with the issues animating current political life.

The following concepts are introduced:

Justice

Civil Society

Liberty

Power

Equality

Human Nature

Rights

Community

Democracy

The Nation

Representation

Globalisation

Toleration

Ideology

Multiculturalism

Discourse

The State

Difference

The Rule of Law

The Body Politic

Key Features:

Only Reader and Guide in one volume on the subject of Political Concepts

Covers the core concepts taught on Politics courses

Each section includes a 5000-word introduction to the subject and two key texts - includes 40 of the most influential primary readings in contemporary political studies

An original contribution from the editor on the multidimensional nature of political concepts

An extensive bibliography and selected further reading to guide the student towards more in-depth research

Introductions to each Part designed to help students connect different sections together