The Ideology of Political Reactionaries by Richard Shorten - 9781032125107

The Ideology of Political ReactionariesAuthor(s): Richard Shorten\nFormat: Paperback\nPublisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd, United Kingdom\nImprint: Routledge\nISBN-13: 9781032125107, 978-1032125107\nSynopsis\nThe Ideology of Political Reactionaries offers a new perspective on the beliefs reactionaries share, presenting a theory of reactionary ideology in the process. Rather than taking self-contradictions in the reactionary imagination as a reason for diminishment, complexity is taken as a challenge.\n\nThe book argues that the features that unite reactionaries lie in rhetoric. Reactionaries make three persuasive appeals: to decadence, conspiracy, and indignation. They also display some recurrent styles. The books rhetorical approach entails a critique of the alternative approaches to reactionary politics (dubbed as dispositional, sociological, and conceptual). At the heart of the book is the textual analysis of the writings of a range of figures who are chosen in deliberate diversit.