Ideology and Cultural Identity: Modernity and the Third World Presence

‘Larrain’s work is a pleasure to read: tentative and humane, he employs a concept of ideology derived from but not entirely concident with that of Marx to offer a critical examination of the complacency and complicity of much contemporary discussion of ideology.’ Political Studies

‘… He analyses what he has always analysed very well – namely, the history of the concept of ideology from Schopenhauer and Nietzsche, Pareto et al., through Marx and Engels to Althusser, post-structuralism, postmodernism and Habermas.’ Radical Philosophy

An important concern of the book is to explore some European conceptions of the Third World. A comparison between such theories leads to a novel interpretation of the relation between ‘reason’ and racism. Jorge Larrain also considers more specifically some issues concerning the relation between cultural identity and personal identity, in relation to processes of globalization. This book will be of interest to students and professionals working in the fields of social theory, development studies and Third World issues.