Julian Ratcliffe | University of Oxford (original) (raw)

Thesis Chapters by Julian Ratcliffe

Research paper thumbnail of Beyond Ideology: Marx, Critique, and the Production of Social Reality

Master's Thesis, 2018

Ideology, traditionally conceived as false consciousness, has progressively gone out of fashion i... more Ideology, traditionally conceived as false consciousness, has progressively gone out of fashion in social and critical theories. Differentiating beliefs about society into the ideological and the non-ideological along the lines of truth and falsity has rightly received criticism for positing a ‘god’s eye’ representationalism that stands beyond the social while invoking an array of the very power-effects it purports to critique. However, recent years seems to re-pose a number of the questions central to the problem of ideology. Why do poor people vote for political parties that reduce taxes for the rich? Why do women support alt-right movements despite their virulent misogyny? How was the so-called Third Way able to present itself as post-ideological despite its wholehearted endorsement of neoliberalism? It therefore seems entirely appropriate to reexamine the literature on the issue with new eyes, guided by the problems that face the contemporary social and political landscape. By understanding the flaws in the Marxist account of ideology (broadly construed), I hope to identify both what can be salvaged from it and what theoretical work needs to be done so as to make the concept critically efficacious. Starting off with a reconstruction of the Marxist account of ideology, I will draw on the innovations of the poststructuralist school of critical theory and social constructionism in contemporary social theory to evaluate and analyse its merits and weaknesses. From that jumping off point, I will analyse ideology's connection to systems of social power. This may, indeed, mean moving away from the concept of ideology all together. Nonetheless, constructing new methods of social critique requires revisiting those that preceded it, ideology one of the most important in the history of thought.

Papers by Julian Ratcliffe

Research paper thumbnail of Genealogy: A conceptual map

European Journal of Philosophy, 2024

The blossoming literature on genealogy in recent years has come as somewhat of a pleasant surpris... more The blossoming literature on genealogy in recent years has come as somewhat of a pleasant surprise to the historically inclined among us. It has not, however, come without its difficulties. As I see it, the literature on genealogy is guilty of two conflations, what I call the “debunking/problematizing conflation” and the “problematizing/rationalizing conflation.” Both are the result of the inadequate typological maps currently used to organize the literature. As a result, what makes many genealogies philosophically interesting often remains obscure. In response, I propose a new two-dimensional typology that avoids these conflations and outfits us with a richer conceptual vocabulary with which to understand and organize the genealogies which populate the literature. By identifying a second dimension of analysis which has thus far gone untheorized, my typology enables us to elucidate the various normative objectives and objects of investigation structuring a literature which is more diverse than previously acknowledged. We can thus get a clearer understanding of the problems those genealogies face, of their critical potential, and of their implications for our conception of critique.

Research paper thumbnail of Beyond Ideology: Marx, Critique, and the Production of Social Reality

Master's Thesis, 2018

Ideology, traditionally conceived as false consciousness, has progressively gone out of fashion i... more Ideology, traditionally conceived as false consciousness, has progressively gone out of fashion in social and critical theories. Differentiating beliefs about society into the ideological and the non-ideological along the lines of truth and falsity has rightly received criticism for positing a ‘god’s eye’ representationalism that stands beyond the social while invoking an array of the very power-effects it purports to critique. However, recent years seems to re-pose a number of the questions central to the problem of ideology. Why do poor people vote for political parties that reduce taxes for the rich? Why do women support alt-right movements despite their virulent misogyny? How was the so-called Third Way able to present itself as post-ideological despite its wholehearted endorsement of neoliberalism? It therefore seems entirely appropriate to reexamine the literature on the issue with new eyes, guided by the problems that face the contemporary social and political landscape. By understanding the flaws in the Marxist account of ideology (broadly construed), I hope to identify both what can be salvaged from it and what theoretical work needs to be done so as to make the concept critically efficacious. Starting off with a reconstruction of the Marxist account of ideology, I will draw on the innovations of the poststructuralist school of critical theory and social constructionism in contemporary social theory to evaluate and analyse its merits and weaknesses. From that jumping off point, I will analyse ideology's connection to systems of social power. This may, indeed, mean moving away from the concept of ideology all together. Nonetheless, constructing new methods of social critique requires revisiting those that preceded it, ideology one of the most important in the history of thought.

Research paper thumbnail of Genealogy: A conceptual map

European Journal of Philosophy, 2024

The blossoming literature on genealogy in recent years has come as somewhat of a pleasant surpris... more The blossoming literature on genealogy in recent years has come as somewhat of a pleasant surprise to the historically inclined among us. It has not, however, come without its difficulties. As I see it, the literature on genealogy is guilty of two conflations, what I call the “debunking/problematizing conflation” and the “problematizing/rationalizing conflation.” Both are the result of the inadequate typological maps currently used to organize the literature. As a result, what makes many genealogies philosophically interesting often remains obscure. In response, I propose a new two-dimensional typology that avoids these conflations and outfits us with a richer conceptual vocabulary with which to understand and organize the genealogies which populate the literature. By identifying a second dimension of analysis which has thus far gone untheorized, my typology enables us to elucidate the various normative objectives and objects of investigation structuring a literature which is more diverse than previously acknowledged. We can thus get a clearer understanding of the problems those genealogies face, of their critical potential, and of their implications for our conception of critique.