The politics of truth : from Marx to Foucault

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The politics of truth : from Marx to Foucault

Michèle Barrett

Stanford University Press, 1991

  • : hard
  • : pbk

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Includes bibliographical references and index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

The concept of ideology - traditionally one of Marxism's most persuasive ideas - has recently been subjected to devastating criticisms. Michelle Barrett shows that Marx's own writings offer a confusing array of possible approaches to 'ideology', which the classical Marxist tradition consolidated as 'mystification that serves class interests'. Barrett locates Gramsci and Althusser as key figures in the breakdown of this model - Gramsci's work presaging the separation of class, politics and ideology found in Laclau and Mouffe, and Althusser's failing to deliver an adequate approach to subjectivity. Foucault - replacing Marxism's 'economics of untruth' with his own 'politics of truth' - is examined as an exemplar of post-structuralist critiques of ideology. The book ranges over contemporary debates in philosophy, psychoanalysis and literary theory as well as social theory. Marxism's theoretical universalism, ethnocentrism and gender blindness, as well as it influential term 'ideology', are all subjected to spirited criticism.

Table of Contents

  • Preface
  • Acknowledgements
  • Part I. Classical Marxism and Theories of Ideology: 1. Marx: inheriting contraditions
  • 2. Ideology: critique or description?
  • 3. Problems of science and determinism
  • Part II. Collapse of the Marxist Model: 4. Ideology, politics, hegemony: from Gramsci to Laclau and Mouffe
  • 5. Subjectivity, humanism, psychoanalysis: beyond Althusser's Lacan
  • Part III. The Politics of Truth: 6. History, discourse, 'truth' and power: Foucault's critique of ideology
  • 7. Conclusion: Post-Marxism and the concept of ideology
  • Notes
  • Index.

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