Sociology and political theory
  • Ideology studies
  • Left politics
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This project examines how ideology shapes our ordinary thinking and behaviour. It unites ‘deep-structure’ macroanalysis from social theory with individualised microanalysis of how people come to act and voice opinions about the world around them. It focuses on the effect of ideologies associated with the occupations that people hold, and the social classes into which they fall as a result, on their values and attitudes, the way they acquire information, how they think, and how they articulate themselves.
More broadly, this project aligns with more recent attempts in ideology studies — especially over the last three decades — to move towards a value-neutral appraisal of ideology, in contrast to its unfairly malign portrayal in historical social thinking and public reception. It explores ideology as a concept that does not just apply within political analysis, but one that also has a range of wider social dimensions: educational, economic, legal, religious, and so on. Above all, it is interested in considering how individual social actors engage with ideology as part of their everyday experience, and in developing new approaches to ideology studies that synthesise the methodological insights of different fields within the humanities and social sciences.

Ideology

Over its long history, the concept of ideology has acquired a vast and at times incommensurable roster of meanings: positive and negative, analytic and critical, philosophical, psychological and scientific. But how precisely should we understand and study ideology today? What is its connection to key issues in social life and social research, such as capitalism and class, democracy and partisanship, nationality, sex and gender, race and ethnicity? In this book, I navigate a path through the complex maze of ideology’s rival interpretations, tracing the shifting fortunes of ideology analysis from its classical origins to its recent renaissance. The result is a concise interdisciplinary overview of how ideologies combine and arrange ideas and how they manifest in our psychology and behaviour. Drawing on a wide array of examples from across the world, the book outlines the historical preconditions that allowed modern ideologies to emerge and illuminates how we experience ideology’s influence in our day-to-day lives.

Reviews

‘Marius Ostrowski’s account of ideology studies is a tour de force, incorporating approaches from the social sciences, history and psychology. His highly intelligent and knowledgeable book is both an indispensable introduction to the centrality of ideology in politics and an exciting stimulus to further research.’ — Michael Freeden, University of Oxford

‘This book is deeply impressive: it is well written, the argument flows extremely well, and a wide range of complex and difficult theories are treated with a light touch and communicated very clearly.’ — Mathew Humphrey, University of Nottingham

Other publications

Progressive politics is facing a crisis several decades in the making. The ‘crisis of social democracy’ after the 1980s neoliberal revolution has been followed by the demise of the liberal ‘end of history’ since the wars and financial crises of the 2000s. Rapid increases in the size, complexity, and fluidity of modern societies have disrupted old communities and identities, and brought new ones into being to challenge them. Cultural tensions have risen alongside older economic and political divisions to the forefront of ideological contests.
​The result has been polarisation: the resurgence of the far right, and a fragmentation of the left towards the centre and the extremes. To confront this crisis, the progressive left must reevaluate its approach to ideological and strategic competition. It must overcome its divisions and bring about ‘left unity’ — between socialists and liberals, greens and anarchists, republicans, regionalists, anti-racists, feminists, and pro-LGBTQ* activists. This project, commissioned as part of Policy Network’s ‘Progressive Futures’ programme, outlines visions and strategies for how the contemporary left can combine its forces and build a ‘progressive alliance’ before it is too late.

Left Unity: Manifesto for a Progressive Alliance

The last major precedent for what can happen when the left is fragmented and the right has turned towards extremism stems from one of the darkest periods of world history. The rise of fascism, the schism of the left between social democracy and communism, and the nadir of a disoriented liberalism eventually allowed bloodshed and destruction to take place on a scale never seen before. The left needs to learn from its own history to develop clear visions and proposals for how to face the tasks ahead with strength and determination. This book makes the case for today’s progressives to adopt a policy of ‘left unity’ across parties and all other parts of the left movement, and outlines strategies for how the contemporary left can start to build a ‘progressive alliance’. These strategies are inspired by the spirit of past efforts to achieve progressive unity, but they are motivated by the needs and possibilities of the crisis the left faces today. It is for progressives of all colours to learn from them what they must.

Other publications

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