Social and Political Thought of Noam Chomsky (Routledge Studies in Social and Political Thought, 24)

210 Pages·2000·1.39 MB·English

by  Alison Edgley

The Social and Political Thought of Noam
Chomsky
The quality of Edgley’s work is very high. The exposition of
Chomsky’s work is always clear and judicious. Edgley provides a
sound treatment of the material and pays excellent attention to the
broader context of the argument…. In the existing literature there is
nothing quite like this in its treatment of Chomsky.
Professor David McLellan, University of Kent
This book explores the theoretical framework that enables Chomsky to be
consistently radical in his analysis of contemporary political affairs. It argues
that, far from Chomsky being a ‘conspiracy theorist’, his approach is embedded
within a systematic philosophical understanding of human nature, combined with
critical perspectives on the state, nationalism and the media. When compared to
Marxist, liberal and cultural relativist thought, Chomsky’s libertarian socialist
thought provides coherent grounds for a militant optimism.
The Social and Political Thought of Noam Chomsky questions Chomsky’s
claim not to have a theory about the relationship between human beings and their
society other than that which can be ‘written on the back of a postage stamp’.
Edgley compares Chomsky’s vision of the good society with liberal and
communitarian perspectives, and establishes that it is grounded in a hopeful
belief about human nature. She argues that sympathy with this vision of the good
society is essential for understanding the nature of Chomsky’s critique of state
capitalism, its inherent nationalism and the media. The author concludes that
Chomsky’s analysis is coherent and systematic when one acknowledges that he
is not just a critic but a theorist.
One of the few serious academic studies of Chomsky’s political writing, this
volume addresses many key issues in political theory through an engagement
with Chomsky’s ideas. Subjects covered include equality and freedom, politics
and the media, nationalism and state capitalism. The Social and Political Thought
ii
of Noam Chomsky is an essential resource for scholars of social and political
thought.
Alison Edgley is Senior Lecturer in Social and Political Thought at
Canterbury Christ Church University College. Her articles have been published
in journals such as Politics and Talking Politics.
Routledge Studies in Social and Political Thought
1 Hayek and After
Hayekian liberalism as a research programme
Jeremy Shearmur
2 Conflicts in Social Science
Edited by Anton van Harskamp
3 Political Thought of André Gorz
Adrian Little
4 Corruption, Capitalism and Democracy
John Girling
5 Freedom and Culture in Western Society
Hans Blokland
6 Freedom in Economics
New perspectives in normative analysis
Edited by Jean-Francois Laslier, Marc Fleurbaey, Nicolas Gravel and Alain
Trannoy
7 Against Politics
On government, anarchy and order
Anthony de Jasay
8 Max Weber and Michel Foucault
Parallel life works
Arpad Szakolczai
9 The Political Economy of Civil Society and Human Rights
G.B.Madison
10 On Durkheim’s Elementary Forms of Religious Life
Edited by W.S.F.Pickering, W.Watts Miller and N.J.Allen
11 Classical Individualism
The supreme importance of each human being
Tibor R.Machan
12 The Age of Reasons
Quixotism, sentimentalism and political economy in eighteenth-century Britain
Wendy Motooka
13 Individualism in Modern Thought
From Adam Smith to Hayek
Lorenzo Infantino
iv
14 Property and Power in Social Theory
A study in intellectual rivalry
Dick Pels
15 Wittgenstein and the Idea of a Critical Social Theory
A Critique of Giddens, Habermas and Bhaskar
Nigel Pleasants
16 Marxism and Human Nature
Sean Sayers
17 Goffman and Social Organization
Studies in a sociological legacy
Edited by Greg Smith
18 Situating Hayek
Phenomenology in the neo-liberal project
Mark J.Smith
19 The Reading of Theoretical Texts
Peter Ekegren
20 The Nature of Capital
Marx after Foucault
Richard Marsden
21 The Age of Chance
Gambling in Western Culture
Gerda Reith
22 Reflexive Historical Sociology
Arpad Szakolczai
23 Durkheim and Representations
Edited by W.S.F.Pickering
24 The Social and Political Thought of Noam Chomsky
Alison Edgley
25 Hayek’s Liberalism and Its Origins
C.Petsoulas
26 Metaphor and the Dynamics of Knowledge
Sabine Maasen and Peter Weingart
27 Living with Markets
Jeremy Shearmur
The Social and Political
Thought of Noam Chomsky
Alison Edgley
London and New York
First published 2000
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005.
“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection
of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”
© 2000 Alison Edgley
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the
British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Edgley, Alison, 1963–
The social and political thought of Noam Chomsky/
Alison Edgley.
p. cm.—(Routledge studies in social and political thought)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-415-20586-7 (hb)
1. Chomsky, Noam—Political and social views. I. Title.
II. Series.
P85.C47 E34 2000
410′.92–dc21 99–055601
ISBN 0-203-00625-9 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-415-20586-7 (Print Edition)
For my father, Roy Edgley
Contents
Acknowledgements ix
Introduction: Chomsky—critic or theorist? 1
1 Political theory 11
2 The ‘good society’ 42
3 State capitalism 78
4 State theory 101
5 Nationalism 123
6 Politics and the media 147
Conclusion: Chomsky—militant optimist 176
Bibliography 185
Index 192
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Ian Forbes not only for his love, friendship and practical
support but also for his relentless and rigorous intellectual criticism. Thanks too
to Amy for sleeping so peacefully thereby allowing me to complete the final stages.
I would also like to thank the following people: Noam Chomsky for
corresponding and meeting with me; David McLellan for his encouragement of
the project at its inception and for supervising these ideas in their doctoral form;
Peter Wilkin and Fred Inglis for enthusiastic support and their comments on an
earlier draft; Sean Sayers, Joe McCarney and the numerous others who attended
David’s Lentil Seminars for useful comments; my friend Sue Davies for her
friendship and for the twilight editing we did. Lastly, I would like to thank my
family but especially my father, Roy Edgley, who bought me my first Chomsky
volume and who read everything and discussed the ideas at every painful stage
of the book’s development. Tragically for me he has not survived to see the book
finally published.