In 1979 Michael Thompson issued a book entitled Rubbish Theory; the Creation and Destruction of Value (OUP). He is a brave man to use that title, but the response that immediately springs to mind is not justified; rubbish theory is far from being rubbish. It is almost routine for the mystics to stress the need… read more »
One source of opposition to systematic ideology is the theory that, in the words of Karl Marx: “It is not the consciousness of men that determines their existence but, on the contrary, their social existence determines their consciousness.” (1) The view of s.i. as asserting that consciousness determines existence is of course a misconception –… read more »
On finding the essence of s.i. expressed, better than we have been able to put it ourselves, by somebody who has almost certainly reached it independently (and incidentally, in the course of other work), it is difficult to know whether to feel pleased or disconcerted. This is by M. I. Finley: A ruling ideology is… read more »
Systematic ideology claims to deal with practical matters as well as theoretical, and there is nothing much more practical than wages. The limited conception of ideology commonly used, both in everyday discussion and by the academics, occupies a different sphere from wages. Ideology in this sense is “false consciousness,” it belongs to the realm of… read more »
The Observer of 27 October included a report on the affairs of the Workers’ Revolutionary Party. (Its members call themselves Trotskyists, but the party might he better termed Redgravist; it seems to be the connection with the actress, rather than with the Russian politician, that wins it publicity). One group within the party wants to… read more »
(Or: Yesterday’s Solutions are Today’s Problems). This series began in IC21 [If It Ain’t Bust Don’t Fix It], and its purpose is to present evidence showing that reform is not always a good thing. Sometimes it is a very bad thing, introducing an abuse or malfunction worse than the one it was intended to correct…. read more »
Here’s something for your IC topic “The End of Work.” Not only has the typesetting industry been eliminated by computers (see IC18 p. 6 Ed.), but the reference-book industry has been eliminated. A single twelve-inch laserdisk will now store two gigabytes of information. That is to say that, if there existed forty different encyclopedias the… read more »
We recently attended a meeting at which a professor of sociology was speaking on ideology. What we have to say about his talk is not intended to be hostile and is not directed only at the ideas held by him personally, but it may be regarded as uncomplimentary, so it is perhaps better not to… read more »
Systematic ideology has a lot to say about ideological groups, and the use of this concept sometimes provokes objections. (In what follows we use personal names but these are to be read as referring in each case to the person’s body of published work; we do not claim knowledge of their private behaviour and cannot… read more »
Each issue of IC has carried an announcement that there was at present no charge. There were implications in that, and the day has now come. One reader recently sent us a cheque to help cover expenses, another offered to pay, and this has put ideas in our greedy little-head. Each reader is invited to… read more »