Premium
Romantics and Renegades: Political Defection and the Radical Left
Author(s) -
Abcarian Gilbert
Publication year - 1971
Publication title -
journal of social issues
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.618
H-Index - 122
eISSN - 1540-4560
pISSN - 0022-4537
DOI - 10.1111/j.1540-4560.1971.tb00639.x
Subject(s) - politics , ideology , alienation , context (archaeology) , left behind , order (exchange) , interchangeability , sociology , new left , political science , psychology , social psychology , aesthetics , law , history , philosophy , psychiatry , engineering , archaeology , finance , mental health , economics , mechanical engineering
It is frequently asserted that Old and New Leftists are quintessentially similar. To explore this viewpoint, political defection experiences among eight American ex‐Communists of the Old Left as reported in their autobiographical writing are examined. Such experiences are briefly placed in the context of the contemporary New Left movement in order to assess the likelihood of their recurrence among New Left spokesmen. The concept of interchangeability, which postulates the unidimensionality of the political radical, is utilized for this purpose. The validity of that concept is questioned, in the context of inquiry, on the ground that the ideological structure as well as potentialities for alienation among radicals of the Old and New Left are incommensurate.