Ideology And The Beau Gesten

I agree with much of what Dennis Wrong says in his “Reflections on the End of Ideology,” in the Summer 1960 issue of DISSENT. Mr. Wrong writes that the “end of ideology” is a fear of the “destructive mass emotions that ideology has proved capable of -unleashing. The cruelty and fanaticism of organized masses is seen as a possibility inherent in modern industrial society and all social movements are anxiously scrutinized for their vulnerability to the totalitarian spirit.”

This, I think, fairly summarizes the concerns of my book. The end of ideology is not a fashion, but an experience; and one need not recapitulate the grisly events of the last twenty-five years to underline that point.

I agree too—and this I take to be the burden of Mr. Wrong’s concerns— that the end of ideology must not be the end of utopia as well. If anything, one can begin anew the discussion of utopia only by being always aware of the trap of ideology....