'The story Seliger has to tell is of a steady refinement of the idea of ideology from the time of Marx and Engels onwards. He himself contributes to this development by pointing out many of the inadequacies of the theory of ideology as commonly conceived …' The Times Literary Supplement
A prefatory note and acknowledgments; Introduction; Part I. The Sin of Overstatement: 1. The problem and the basic contradiction; 2. The facets of orthodox Marxist doctrine; 3. Distorted and adequate thought; 4. The pressure of facts; Part II. The Redemption of Ideology: 5. Unacknowledged and acknowledged modification; 6. An interim balance; 7. Ideology beyond economic causation; 8. The way out of the vicious circle: Mannheim; Part III. Perspectives, Changing and Persisting: 9. Class and ideology; 10. Ideology pluralism; 11. The range and depth of analogy; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.