Leonard Williams

Online Discussion, Student Engagement, and Critical Thinking

Recent research into the merits of online discussion (computer-mediated communication) has shown that it promotes active learning behaviors and enhances learner outcomes. Scholars have also shown that, when instructors employ effective questioning and moderating skills, students can show higher levels of critical thinking in online discussion. In an investigation that merged and refined content analysis protocols in order to identify the effects of such factors as student GPA and type of course upon student engagement and student critical thinking, our findings substantiate a link between student interaction and critical thinking. When students engage one another in online discussions in a focused way, their capacity for reasoned discourse becomes more evident.

Taking stock of schema theory

Abstract In recent years, many political scientists (e.g., Richard Lau, David Sears, Ruth Hamill, Milton Lodge, and Doris Graber) have begun to adopt the language and concepts of schema theory in their researches into public opinion and political behavior. Despite the great claims which have been made for the schema approach, the authors argue that to date little new knowledge has been produced by this particular research program. Although the authors acknowledge the possible contribution schema theory may make in future studies, they point to the need to guard against theoretical displacement within the discipline.

Abundance, lack, and identity

Discussions of the nature of identity have produced at least two theoretical debates, described here as an ontological debate and a formative one. The first debate occurs between theorists who propose an ontology of ‘abundance’ (e.g. William Connolly) and theorists of an ontology of ‘lack’ (e.g. Ernesto Laclau). The second debate occurs between those who hold that identity is rooted in voluntaristic choice (e.g. Laclau) and those who assert that identity emerges through a gradual process of aspect change (e.g. Aletta Norval). My aim in this essay is to gain some concrete purchase on these abstract debates through a study of the autobiographical discourses of two contemporary ideological apostates in the US—David Brock and David Horowitz. Exploring the life stories of subjects such as these may provide a valuable resource for understanding processes of identification and ideological change.

Althusser on ideology: A reassessment

Abstract Given the continued significance of ideology as a social and political phenomenon, political science must consider the important contributions made to ideology theory made over the last thirty years by Louis Althusser. In this essay, I offer a critical exegesis of Althussers views, focusing on the concept of reading, on the various conceptions of ideology held by Althusser, on the distinction Althusser made between ideology and science, and on his theory of the subject. This study of his thought makes three claims: (1) that Althussers views, billed as a radical break with bourgeois thought, can be assimilated easily into social scientific understandings about ideology; (2) that Althussers theory has internal difficulties rooted in the tension between positive and negative conceptions of ideology; and, (3) that Althusser left unanswered the key question of the means to ideological liberation.

Yankee Red : nonorthodox Marxism in liberal America

Prologue: The Two Cultures of Marxism Learning from Failure: Orthodoxy in America Radical Subjectivity Proletarian Politics Emancipatory Empirical Science Progressive Pluralism Conclusion: The Rude Awakening Bibliography Index

Anarchism: A Conceptual Approach

Utilising Michael Freedens morphological (or conceptual) approach to the study of ideologies, this book applies this approach too the study of anarchist ideology. The volume comprising 15 (chapters) and an introduction – authored by a handpicked group of established and rising scholars – investigates how anarchists often seek to sharpen their message and struggle to determine what ideas and actions are central to their identity. This book examines the meanings of its key concepts, which have been divided into three categories: Core, Adjacent, and Peripheral concepts. Each chapter focuses on one important concept, shows how anarchists have understood the concept, and highlights its relationships to other concepts.

Ideological parallels between the New Left and the New Right

Abstract Antagonistic ideologies often exhibit parallels of thought and action. New Left and New Right ideologies, for example, both attack the bureaucratization of society and an inequality of social and political power. And both the New Left and the New Right call for an end to pervasive alienation and for the re-creation of a genuine community. These ideologies then show striking similarities in their critiques of American society and in their preferred states of affairs. Possible explanations of this parallelism—that the two ideologies are variants of extremism or that both movements emerge from the same class background—are examined and found wanting. Taking a cue from Seliger, I then suggest that this instance of ideological parallelism instead occurs because the New Left and the New Right both confront the basic social and political problems of an advanced industrial society.