Principle |

George Walford: The First Step

August 11, 2014

S.i. identifies the first ideology, originally displayed, by the hunter-gatherers, as expedient and the second (which first appeared together with agriculture, production, civilization and trade) as principled. One ethnographer notes a later appearance of the distinction. After saying that Navaho behave in one way towards fellow-tribesmen and in another towards outsiders, he continues: Under the… read more »

George Walford: Systematic Ideology (56)

August 10, 2014

SYSTEMATIC ideology ascribes both institutional religion and the law to the one ideology, that of principle / domination. Richard Hughes, writing on transportation, brings out some of the detailed correspondences. He likens the rhetoric and diction, the costume and rituals of the judges to those of the priests. In their addresses the judges delivered the… read more »

George Walford: Protest Begins

August 9, 2014

Witing on recent political events Ernest Gellner [1] traces their beginnings to the Reformation / Counter Reformation in division in Europe. One side moved towards limited and accountable government, high status for commerce and production, a generalized individualism and freedom of thought. The other favoured inherited status, martial honour and political domination. Paul Johnson had… read more »

George Walford: Meet Systematic Ideology (56)

August 8, 2014

(Revision of May 1992) IDEOLOGICAL COMMENTARY announces itself as a journal of systematic ideology (s.i.), but it does not claim final knowledge of this theory; the formulation that looked like the ultimate last month needs alteration now, and the account given here undergoes continuing revision. Si. starts from observation of the limited success achieved alike… read more »

George Walford: Discovering Ideology

August 3, 2014

This is the full text, minimally edited, of a talk delivered to the South Place Ethical Society at their premises, Conway Hall, on 17 November 1991. The Society (familiar as South Place, or SPES), presents itself and its aims: “Founded in 1793, the Society is a progressive movement whose aim is the study and dissemination… read more »

George Walford: The First Big Step

July 30, 2014

In order to form any clear ideas about the probable social future we need a rational conception of the course followed in the past, a curve to extrapolate. Beyond Politics presents a stadial conception in which the first major step occurs when the state succeeds the foraging communities, a transition intimately linked with the emergence… read more »

George Walford: Military Martyrs

April 24, 2014

Systematic ideology distinguishes between a major ideology and the ways in which it finds expression; the one ideology may appear in a variety of forms, authoritarian religion and military activities, for example, both giving shape to the ideology of principle / domination. (See “The Church Military“, IC50 p. 18). Fallen Soldiers, by George L. Mosse,… read more »

George Walford: Meet Systematic Ideology (54)

April 28, 2014

(Revision of November 1991) IDEOLOGICAL COMMENTARY announces itself as a journal of systematic ideology (s.i.), but it does not claim final knowledge of this theory; the formulation that looked like the ultimate last month needs alteration now, and the account given here undergoes continuing revision. Si. starts from observation of the limited success achieved alike… read more »

Beyond Politics Reviews by The Scientific and Medical Network Newsletter

April 23, 2014

George Walford is concerned here to extend the definition and scope of ideology beyond its Marxist identification as “false consciousness” to demonstrate that ideological considerations underlie and dominate political thinking. He begins from what he calls the British political series of conservatism, liberalism, socialism, communism and anarchism, adding that the largest category lying outside these… read more »

George Walford: Trousers Versus Breeches

April 19, 2014

It was the first of the big ones, the first to shake the world and the first to be taken as a model; the Bolsheviks acted with one eye cocked back at Marat, Robespierre, the Bastille, the Vendee and the events of Thermidor. It cannot sensibly be seen as an uprising of either the working… read more »