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Title: The End of Ideology: On the Exhaustion of Political Ideas in the Fifties by Daniel Bell ISBN: 0-674-00426-4 Publisher: Harvard Univ Pr Pub. Date: October, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $22.50 |
Average Customer Rating: 4 (2 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: The Beginning of History
Comment: Three selections from the End of Ideology are worth the price of the book. First, the essay Bell wrote for this latest edition in which he makes a strong case that with the end of ideology, "history" has begun anew. Next, the new introduction he wrote in the mid-70s which discusses the critical reception of this book. Finally, the last chapter of the original book, a masterful history of Marxist thought.
In essay on the resumption of history, Bell clears away much of the underbrush that has grown up around the notion of "global capitalism" by pointing out that the end of empire (and that includes the Soviet Union) and the colonial era has had the largest impact on world politics over the past forty years. The reignition of various ethnic groups whose identities had been suppressed under various Uber states and ideologies is just as important a part of the story. The 1975 introduction is a fascinating refutation of his, mostly Marxist, critics. For instance, C. Wright Mills, the maverick sociologist, apparently came after Bell for his review of Mills' "The Power Elite" (included in "The End of Idelogy"). Bell neatly dissects Mills' both in the essay and in his answer to Mills' criticisms. Bell, the empiricist, is the clear winner in these two rounds. The last chapter on Marxism is worth re-reading and re-reading for Bell knows the subject and the players intimately, as only a former boy Socialist born in New York's Lower East Side could. He explains how Marx's transmutation of Hegel's ideas into "dialectical materialism" set the stage for generations of leftist intellectuals to misinterpret or reinterpret events into Marxist prattle according to their understanding or lack of understanding thereof. It's a post-graduation education on Marxism in 35 dense, but, brilliant pages.
Two juicy chapters on the American "mafia" and the inflation of crime statistics and the stoking of public fear by law enforcement, although somewhat dated contain some remarkable insights: among them that the "mafia," like American business in general had to move from "production" to the "consumption" mode, i.e., turning toward the consumer to make money through gambling, and away from more traditional, less lucrative businesses such as prostitution. These two articles, written when he covered the labor beat for Fortune magazine, still have an edge now, as the same "crime wave" and "mafia" hysteria continue to be generated by the media and law enforcement.
Bell's wide-ranging knowledge, his clear-eyed appraisal of the American scene, his tenacity in trying to discover the real levers of power, are qualities one rarely finds in this era where shouting and sloganeering still suffice -- although much of this now comes not from the left-hand side of the spectrum, but the right.
Rating: 4
Summary: Still Relevant As We Approach the 21st Century
Comment: Although first published in 1960, just before a torrent of social change drenched the US and the world, sociologist Daniel Bell's insightful collection of essays comprising "The End of Ideology" still has much to offer, even at century's end. From his thoughtful assessment of the failure of socialism in the United States to his vivid description of the psychological strains burdening the average American worker--the latter still sadly true in the computer age--Bell believes that the day of traditional airtight ideological solutions and posturing has ended.
Much of what sustained the old "urban progressivism" which, despite its flaws, was a force for much positive social change in the US, has largely disappeared. Bell predicted conditions peculiar to American society combined with trends like the steady decline in labor union membership, the steady progress of workplace automation and, even then, the emergence of mass electronic communications would make humans less willing to accept the singular utopian pronouncements of what he called "millennial" movements. Instead, ongoing social fragmentation, diversification and conflict would make coping with major socioeconomic problems along traditional "party" lines unrealistic if not impossible.
Given the persisting belief among many that traditional "government" is failing us and the continued rise and influence of vocal, single-interest splinter groups with considerable access to a variety of media--despite their familiar revolutionary noises--it is hard to disagree. There is much Bell couldn't have foreseen given his vantage point at the very end of the placid 1950s, but his perceptive yet readable critique of our traditional way of looking at many of our pressing social issues and our political history still has a compelling, hopeful freshness, its basis being, as he had said himself, "is that the present belongs to the living."
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Title: The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism by Daniel Bell ISBN: 0465014992 Publisher: Basic Books Pub. Date: September, 1996 List Price(USD): $20.00 |
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Title: The Coming of Post-Industrial Society: A Venture in Social Forecasting by Daniel Bell ISBN: 0465097138 Publisher: Basic Books Pub. Date: May, 1999 List Price(USD): $21.00 |
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Title: The Power Elite by C. Wright Mills, Wright C. Mills ISBN: 0195133544 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: January, 2000 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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Title: The Social Construction of Reality : A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge by PETER L. BERGER, THOMAS LUCKMANN ISBN: 0385058985 Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: 11 July, 1967 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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