Alison Edgley - The Social and Political Thought of Noam Chomsky

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 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.

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 Andr 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'sElementary Formsof 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

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, 2004.

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, NoamPolitical and social views. I. Title.
II. Series.
P85.C47 E34 2000
410'.92dc21 99055601

ISBN 0-203-00625-9 Master e-book ISBN

ISBN 0-415-20586-7 (Print Edition)

Copyright 2003/2004 . All rights reserved.

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For my father, Roy Edgley

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.