Understanding Dogmas and Dreams

the long version

Nancy Loves concise yet complete volume aims to inform students of their choices among political values. By exploring the assumptions of various ideologies and comparing their positions, students begin to understand political alternatives to be able to choose among them in essence, they learn to think democratically. Offering historical and analytic context for the selections in her companion reader, Dogmas and Dreams, Love challenges students to consider the various ways ideological frameworks shape political actions. Reframing her approach in this second edition, Love examines how traditional left/right ideologies, liberalism and conservatism, socialism and fascismare shifting to adapt to new political realities in an ever turbulent, post-9/11 world. She also discusses why alternative ideologies, feminism, environmentalism, fundamentalism, and globalization may better convey our global political future. While pushing the boundaries of the left/right political spectrum, she looks at how grassroots social movements offer alternative ways to view ideological differences, from cluster-concepts to micro-discourses, and even a planetary galaxy.