Review of “The Charmed Circle of Ideology” by Geoff Boucher

Set against the collapse of social theory into a theory of ideological discourse, Geoff Boucher sets to work a rigorous mapping of the contemporary field, targeting the relativist implications of this new form of philosophical idealism. Offering a detailed and immanent critique Boucher concentrates his critical attention on the `postmarxismż of Laclau and Mouffe, Butler and żiżek. Combining close reading and careful exposition with polemical intent, Boucher links the relativism exemplified in these contemporary theoretical trends to unresolved philosophical problems of modernity. In conclusion Boucher points to `intersubjectivityż as an exit from postmarxist theoryżs charmed circle of ideology.