The End of Ideology by Daniel Bell

The End of Ideology by Daniel Bell

Named by the Times Literary Supplement as one of the 100 most influential books since the end of World War I, The End of Ideology has been a landmark in American social thought, regarded as a classic since its first publication in 1962.

Daniel Bell postulated that the older humanistic ideologies derived from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were exhausted, and that new parochial ideologies would arise. In a new introduction to the year 2000 edition, he argues that with the end of communism, we are seeing a resumption of history, a lifting of the heavy ideological blanket and the return of traditional ethnic and religious conflicts in the many regions of the former socialist states and elsewhere.

Daniel Bell (1919-2011) was a Harvard University professor emeritus of sociology best recognized for his work and contributions to post-industrialism. He was the editor of The New Leader, Fortune, and The Public Interest, among other periodicals. The End of Ideology, The Winding Passage: Sociological Essays and Travels, and The Social Sciences since World War II are among his works.