Critical theory

"Critical sociology" redirects here. For the journal, seeCritical Sociology(journal).

Not to be confused withCritical thinkingorCritical philosophy.

Acritical theoryis any approach tohumanitiesandsocial philosophythat focuses on society and culture to attempt to reveal, critique, and challengepower structures.With roots insociologyandliterary criticism,it argues thatsocial problemsstem more fromsocial structuresandcultural assumptionsthan from individuals.Some hold it to be an ideology,others argue thatideologyis the principal obstacle to human liberation.Critical theory finds applications in various fields of study, includingpsychoanalysis,film theory,literary theory,cultural studies,history,communication theory,philosophy,andfeminist theory.

Critical Theory(capitalized) is aschool of thoughtpracticed by theFrankfurt SchooltheoreticiansHerbert Marcuse,Theodor Adorno,Walter Benjamin,Erich Fromm,andMax Horkheimer.Horkheimer described a theory as critical insofar as it seeks "toliberatehuman beings from the circumstances that enslave them ".Although a product ofmodernism,and although many of the progenitors of Critical Theory were skeptical ofpostmodernism,Critical Theory is one of the major components of both modern and postmodern thought, and is widely applied in the humanities and social sciences today.

In addition to its roots in the first-generation Frankfurt School, critical theory has also been influenced byGyörgy LukácsandAntonio Gramsci.Some second-generation Frankfurt School scholars have been influential, notablyJürgen Habermas.In Habermas's work, critical theory transcended its theoretical roots inGerman idealismand progressed closer toAmerican pragmatism.Concern for social "base and superstructure"is one of the remainingMarxistphilosophical concepts in much contemporary critical theory.The legacy of Critical Theory as a major offshoot ofMarxismis controversial. The common thread linking Marxism and Critical theory is an interest in struggles to dismantle structures of oppression, exclusion, and domination.Philosophical approaches within this broader definition includefeminism,critical race theory,post-structuralism,queer theoryand forms ofpostcolonialism.

History

Max Horkheimerfirst defined critical theory (‹See Tfd›German:Kritische Theorie) in his 1937 essay "Traditional and Critical Theory", as asocial theoryoriented towardcritiquingand changingsocietyas a whole, in contrast to traditional theory oriented only toward understanding or explaining it. Wanting to distinguish critical theory as a radical, emancipatory form ofMarxist philosophy,Horkheimer critiqued both the model of science put forward bylogical positivism,and what he and his colleagues saw as the covertpositivismandauthoritarianismoforthodox MarxismandCommunism.He described a theory ascriticalinsofar as it seeks "to liberate human beings from the circumstances that enslave them".Critical theory involves anormativedimension, either by criticizing society in terms of some general theory ofvaluesor norms (oughts), or by criticizing society in terms of its own espoused values (i.e.immanent critique).Significantly, critical theory not only conceptualizes and critiques societal power structures, but also establishes an empirically grounded model to link society to the human subject.It defends the universalist ambitions of the tradition, but does so within a specific context of social-scientific and historical research.

The core concepts of critical theory are that it should:

• be directed at the totality of society in its historical specificity (i.e., how it came to be configured at a specific point in time)
• improve understanding of society by integrating all the majorsocial sciences,includinggeography,economics,sociology,history,political science,anthropology,andpsychology

Postmoderncritical theory is another major product of critical theory. It analyzes the fragmentation ofcultural identitiesin order to challengemodernist-eraconstructs such asmetanarratives,rationality,and universal truths, while politicizing social problems "by situating them in historical and cultural contexts, to implicate themselves in the process of collecting and analyzing data, and to relativize their findings".

Marx

Marx explicitly developed the notion ofcritiqueinto thecritique of ideology,linking it with the practice ofsocial revolution,as stated in the 11th section of hisTheses on Feuerbach:"The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways; the point is to change it."In early works, includingThe German Ideology,Marx developed his concepts of false consciousness and of ideology as the interests of one section of society masquerading as the interests of society as a whole.

Adorno and Horkheimer

One of the distinguishing characteristics of critical theory, asTheodor W. AdornoandMax Horkheimerelaborated in theirDialectic of Enlightenment(1947), is an ambivalence about the ultimate source or foundation of social domination, an ambivalence that gave rise to the "pessimism"of the new critical theory about the possibility ofhuman emancipationandfreedom.This ambivalence was rooted in the historical circumstances in which the work was originally produced, particularly the rise ofNazism,state capitalism,andculture industryas entirely new forms of social domination that could not be adequately explained in the terms of traditionalMarxist sociology.

For Adorno and Horkheimer,state interventionin the economy had effectively abolished the traditional tension between Marxism's "relations of production"and" materialproductive forces"of society. The market (as an" unconscious "mechanism for the distribution of goods) had been replaced bycentralized planning.

Contrary to Marx's prediction in thePreface to a Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy,this shift did not lead to "an era ofsocial revolution"but tofascismandtotalitarianism.As a result, critical theory was left, in Habermas's words, without "anything in reserve to which it might appeal, and when the forces of production enter into a baneful symbiosis with the relations of production that they were supposed to blow wide open, there is no longer any dynamism upon which critique could base its hope".For Adorno and Horkheimer, this posed the problem of how to account for the apparent persistence of domination in the absence of the very contradiction that, according to traditional critical theory, was the source of domination itself.

Habermas

In the 1960s,Habermas,a proponent ofcritical social theory,raised theepistemologicaldiscussion to a new level in hisKnowledge and Human Interests(1968), by identifying criticalknowledgeas based on principles that differentiated it either from thenatural sciencesor thehumanities,through its orientation toself-reflectionand emancipation.Although unsatisfied with Adorno and Horkheimer's thought inDialectic of Enlightenment,Habermas shares the view that, in the form ofinstrumental rationality,the era ofmodernitymarks a move away from the liberation of enlightenment and toward a new form of enslavement.In Habermas's work, critical theory transcended its theoretical roots inGerman idealism,and progressed closer toAmerican pragmatism.

Habermas's ideas about the relationship between modernity andrationalizationare in this sense strongly influenced byMax Weber.He further dissolved the elements of critical theory derived fromHegelianGerman idealism,though his epistemology remains broadly Marxist. Perhaps his two most influential ideas are the concepts of thepublic sphereandcommunicative action,the latter arriving partly as a reaction to newpost-structuralor so-called "postmodern"challenges to the discourse of modernity. Habermas engaged in regular correspondence withRichard Rorty,and a strong sense of philosophicalpragmatismmay be felt in his thought, which frequently traverses the boundaries between sociology and philosophy.

Modern critical theorists

Contemporary philosophers and researchers who have focused on understanding and critiquing critical theory includeNancy Fraser,Axel Honneth,Judith Butler,andRahel Jaeggi.Honneth is known for his worksPathology of ReasonandThe Legacy of Critical Theory,in which he attempts to explain critical theory's purpose in a modern context.Jaeggi focuses on both critical theory's original intent and a more modern understanding that some argue has created a new foundation for modern usage of critical theory.Butler contextualizes critical theory as a way to rhetorically challenge oppression and inequality, specifically concepts of gender.

Honneth established a theory that many use to understand critical theory, thetheory of recognition.In this theory, he asserts that in order for someone to be responsible for themselves and their own identity they must be also recognized by those around them: without recognition in this sense from peers and society, individuals can never become wholly responsible for themselves and others, nor experience true freedom and emancipation—i.e., without recognition, the individual cannot achieveself-actualization.

Like many others who put stock in critical theory, Jaeggi is vocal about capitalism's cost to society. Throughout her writings, she has remained doubtful about the necessity and use of capitalism in regard to critical theory.Most of Jaeggi's interpretations of critical theory seem to work against the foundations of Habermas and follow more along the lines of Honneth in terms of how to look at the economy through the theory's lens.She shares many of Honneth's beliefs, and many of her works try to defend them against criticism Honneth has received.

To provide a dialectical opposite to Jaeggi's conception of alienation as 'a relation of relationlessness',Hartmut Rosahas proposed the concept ofresonance.Rosa uses this term to refer to moments when late modern subjects experience momentary feelings ofself-efficacyin society, bringing them into a temporary moment of relatedness with some aspect of the world.Rosa describes himself as working within the critical theory tradition of the Frankfurt School, providing an extensive critique of late modernity through his concept of social acceleration.However his resonance theory has been questioned for moving too far beyond the Adornoian tradition of "looking coldly at society".

Schools and Derivates

Postmodern critical social theory

Focusing onlanguage,symbolism, communication, andsocial construction,critical theory has been applied in the social sciences as a critique of social construction andpostmodern society.

Whilemodernistcritical theory (as described above) concerns itself with "forms of authority and injustice that accompanied the evolution of industrial andcorporate capitalismas apolitical-economicsystem ",postmoderncritical theory politicizes social problems "by situating them in historical and cultural contexts, to implicate themselves in the process of collecting and analyzing data, and to relativize their findings".Meaning itself is seen as unstable due to social structures' rapid transformation. As a result, research focuses on local manifestations rather than broad generalizations.

Postmodern critical research is also characterized by thecrisis of representation,which rejects the idea that a researcher's work is an "objective depiction of a stable other". Instead, many postmodern scholars have adopted "alternatives that encourage reflection about the 'politics and poetics' of their work. In these accounts, the embodied, collaborative, dialogic, and improvisational aspects of qualitative research are clarified."

The termcritical theoryis oftenappropriatedwhen an author works insociologicalterms, yet attacks the social or human sciences, thus attempting to remain "outside" those frames of inquiry.Michel Foucaulthas been described as one such author.Jean Baudrillardhas also been described as a critical theorist to the extent that he was an unconventional and critical sociologist;this appropriation is similarly casual, holding little or no relation to theFrankfurt School.In contrast, Habermas is one of the key critics of postmodernism.

Communication studies

When, in the 1970s and 1980s, Habermas redefinedcritical social theoryas astudy of communication,with communicative competence andcommunicative rationalityon the one hand, and distorted communication on the other, the two versions of critical theory began to overlap to a much greater degree than before.

Critical legal studies

These paragraphs are an excerpt fromCritical legal studies.[edit]

Critical legal studies(CLS) is a school of critical theory that developed in the United States during the 1970s.CLS adherents claim that laws are devised to maintain thestatus quoof society and thereby codify itsbiases against marginalized groups.

Immigration studies

Critical theory can be used to interpret theright of asylumandimmigration law.

Critical finance studies

Critical finance studies apply critical theory tofinancial marketsandcentral banks.

Critical management studies

These paragraphs are an excerpt fromCritical management studies.[edit]

Critical management studies(CMS) is a loose but extensive grouping of theoretically informed critiques ofmanagement,business and organisation, grounded originally in a critical theory perspective. Today it encompasses a wide range of perspectives that are critical of traditional theories of management and the business schools that generate these theories.

Critical international relations theory

These paragraphs are an excerpt fromCritical international relations theory.[edit]

Critical international relations theoryis a diverse set of schools of thought ininternational relations(IR) that have criticized the theoretical, meta-theoretical and/or politicalstatus quo,both in IR theory and in international politics more broadly – frompositivistas well aspostpositivistpositions. Positivist critiques includeMarxistandneo-Marxistapproaches and certain ( "conventional" ) strands ofsocial constructivism.Postpositivist critiques includepoststructuralist,postcolonial,"critical" constructivist, critical theory (in the strict sense used by theFrankfurt School),neo-Gramscian,mostfeminist,and someEnglish Schoolapproaches, as well as non-Weberianhistorical sociology,"international political sociology","critical geopolitics",and the so-called"new materialism"(partly inspired byactor–network theory). All of these latter approaches differ from bothrealismandliberalismin theirepistemologicalandontologicalpremises.

Critical race theory

These paragraphs are an excerpt fromCritical race theory.[edit]

Critical race theory(CRT) is anacademic fieldfocused on the relationships betweensocial conceptionsofrace and ethnicity,social and politicallaws,and media. CRT also considersracismto besystemicin various laws and rules, not based only on individuals' prejudices.The wordcriticalin the name is an academic reference to critical theory rather than criticizing or blaming individuals.

Critical pedagogy

Main article:Critical pedagogy

Critical theorists have widely creditedPaulo Freirefor the first applications of critical theory to education/pedagogy,considering his best-known work to bePedagogy of the Oppressed,a seminal text in what is now known as the philosophy and social movement ofcritical pedagogy.Dedicated to the oppressed and based on his own experience helping Brazilian adults learn to read and write, Freire includes a detailedMarxistclass analysisin his exploration of the relationship between the colonizer and the colonized. In the book, he calls traditional pedagogy the "banking model of education",because it treats the student as an empty vessel to be filled with knowledge. He argues that pedagogy should instead treat the learner as a co-creator of knowledge.

In contrast to the banking model, the teacher in the critical-theory model is not the dispenser of all knowledge, but a participant who learns with and from the students—in conversation with them, even as they learn from the teacher. The goal is to liberate the learner from an oppressive construct of teacher versus student, a dichotomy analogous to colonizer and colonized. It is not enough for the student to analyze societal power structures and hierarchies, to merely recognize imbalance and inequity; critical theory pedagogy must also empower the learner to reflect and act on that reflection to challenge an oppressive status quo.

Critical consciousness

These paragraphs are an excerpt fromCritical consciousness.[edit]

Critical consciousness,conscientization, orconscientizaçãoinPortuguese(Portuguese pronunciation:[kõsjẽtʃizaˈsɐ̃w]), is a popular education and social concept developed by Brazilianpedagogueandeducational theoristPaulo Freire,grounded inneo-Marxistcritical theory. Critical consciousness focuses on achieving an in-depth understanding of the world, allowing for the perception and exposure of social and political contradictions. Critical consciousness also includes taking action against the oppressive elements in one's life that are illuminated by that understanding.

Critical university studies

These paragraphs are an excerpt fromCritical university studies.[edit]

Critical university studiesis a field examining the role ofhigher educationin contemporary society and its relation to culture, politics, and labor. Arising primarily fromcultural studies,it applies critical theory toward the university since the 1970s, particularly the shift away from a strongpublic modelof higher education to aneoliberalprivatizedmodel. Emerging largely in the United States, which has the most extensive system of higher education, the field has also seen significant work in the United Kingdom, as well as in other countries confronting neoliberalism. Key themes of CUS research arecorporatization,academic labor, andstudent debt,among other issues.

Critical psychology

These paragraphs are an excerpt fromCritical psychology.[edit]

Critical psychologyis a perspective on psychology that draws extensively on critical theory. Critical psychology challenges the assumptions,theoriesand methods of mainstreampsychologyand attempts to apply psychological understandings in different ways.

Critical criminology

These paragraphs are an excerpt fromCritical criminology.[edit]

Critical criminologyapplies critical theory tocriminology.Critical criminology examines the genesis of crime and the nature of justice in relation to factors such asclassandstatus,Law and the penal system are viewed as founded onsocial inequalityand meant to perpetuate such inequality.Critical criminology also looks for possible biases in criminological research.

Critical animal studies

These paragraphs are an excerpt fromCritical animal studies.[edit]

Critical animal studies(CAS) applies critical theorytoanimal studiesandanimal ethics.It emerged in 2001 with the founding of the Centre for Animal Liberation Affairs by Anthony J. Nocella II andSteven Best,which in 2007 became the Institute for Critical Animal Studies (ICAS).The core interest of CAS isanimal ethics,firmly grounded in trans-speciesintersectionality,environmental justice,social justicepolitics and critical analysis of the underlying role played by thecapitalistsystem.Scholars in the field seek to integrate academic research with political engagement and activism.

Critical social work

These paragraphs are an excerpt fromCritical social work.[edit]

Critical social workis the application tosocial workof a critical theory perspective. Criticalsocial workseeks to address social injustices, as opposed to focusing on individualized issues. Critical theories explain social problems as arising from various forms ofoppressionand injustice in globalized capitalist societies and forms of neoliberal governance.

This approach to social work theory is formed by a polyglot of theories from across thehumanitiesandsocial sciences,borrowing from various schools of thought, includinganarchism,anti-capitalism,anti-racism,Marxism,feminism,andsocial democracy.

Critical ethnography

These paragraphs are an excerpt fromCritical ethnography.[edit]

Critical ethnographyapplies a critical theory based approach toethnography.It focuses on the implicit values expressed within ethnographic studies and, therefore, on the unacknowledged biases that may result from such implicit values.It has been called critical theory in practice.In the spirit of critical theory, this approach seeks to determine symbolic mechanisms, to extract ideology from action, and to understand the cognition and behaviour of research subjects within historical, cultural, and social frameworks.

Critical data studies

These paragraphs are an excerpt fromCritical data studies.[edit]

Critical data studiesis the exploration of and engagement with social, cultural, and ethical challenges that arise when working with big data. It is through various unique perspectives and taking a critical approach that this form of study can be practiced.As its name implies, critical data studies draws heavily on the influence of critical theory, which has a strong focus on addressing the organization of power structures. This idea is then applied to the study of data.

Critical environmental justice

Critical environmental justiceapplies critical theory toenvironmental justice.

Criticism

While critical theorists have often been called Marxist intellectuals, their tendency to denounce some Marxist concepts and to combine Marxian analysis with other sociological and philosophical traditions has resulted in accusations ofrevisionismbyOrthodox Marxistand byMarxist–Leninistphilosophers.Martin Jayhas said that the first generation of critical theory is best understood not as promoting a specific philosophical agenda or ideology, but as "agadflyof other systems ".

Critical theory has been criticized for not offering any clear road map to political action (praxis), often explicitly repudiating any solutions.Those objections mostly apply to first-generation Frankfurt School, while the issue of politics is addressed in a much more assertive way in contemporary theory.

Another criticism of critical theory "is that it fails to provide rational standards by which it can show that it is superior to other theories of knowledge, science, or practice."Rex Gibsonargues that critical theory suffers from being cliquish, conformist, elitist, immodest, anti-individualist, naive, too critical, and contradictory. Hughes and Hughes argue that Habermas' theory of ideal public discourse "says much about rational talkers talking, but very little about actors acting: Felt, perceptive, imaginative, bodily experience does not fit these theories".

Some feminists argue that critical theory "can be as narrow and oppressive as the rationalization, bureaucratization, and cultures they seek to unmask and change.

Critical theory's language has been criticized as being too dense to understand, although "Counter arguments to these issues of language include claims that a call for clearer and more accessible language is anti-intellectual, a new 'language of possibility' is needed, and oppressed peoples can understand and contribute to new languages."

Bruce Pardy, writing for theNational Post,argued that any challenges to the "legitimacy [of critical theory] can be interpreted as a demonstration of their [critical theory's proponents'] thesis: the assertion of reason, logic and evidence is a manifestation of privilege and power. Thus, any challenger risks the stigma of a bigoted oppressor."

Robert Danisch, writing forThe Conversation,argued that critical theory, and the modern humanities more broadly, focus too much on criticizing the current world rather than trying to make a better world.

See also

• Modernism
• Antipositivism
• Critical military studies
• Cultural studies
• Information criticism
• Marxist cultural analysis
• Outline of critical theory
• Popular culture studies
• Outline of organizational theory
• Postcritique

Lists

• List of critical theorists
• List of works in critical theory

Journals

• Constellations
• Representations
• Critical Inquiry
• Telos
• Law and Critique

References

Works cited

• Connolly, William E.(2013). "The 'New Materialism' and the Fragility of Things".Millennium: Journal of International Studies.41(3): 399–412.doi:10.1177/0305829813486849.ISSN1477-9021.S2CID143725752.
• Coole, Diana;Frost, Samantha, eds. (2010).New Materialisms: Ontology, Agency, and Politics.Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press.ISBN978-0-8223-4753-8.
• Hobden, Stephen;Hobson, John M.,eds. (2002).Historical Sociology of International Relations.Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.ISBN978-0-521-80870-5.
• Lindlof, Thomas R.; Taylor, Bryan C. (2002).Qualitative Communication Research Methods.SAGE Publications.ISBN978-0761924944.
• Van der Tuin, Iris; Dolphijn, Rick (2012).New Materialism: Interviews and Cartographies.Ann Arbor, Michigan: Open Humanities Press.doi:10.3998/ohp.11515701.0001.001.ISBN978-1-60785-281-0.

Bibliography

• "Problematizing Global Knowledge."Theory, Culture & Society23(2–3). 2006.ISSN0263-2764.
• Calhoun, Craig.1995.Critical Social Theory: Culture, History, and the Challenge of Difference.Blackwell.ISBN1557862885– A survey of and introduction to the current state of critical social theory.
• Charmaz, K. 1995. "Between positivism and postmodernism: Implications for methods."Studies in Symbolic Interaction17:43–72.
• Conquergood, D. 1991. "Rethinking ethnography: Towards a critical cultural politics."Communication Monographs58(2):179–94.doi:10.1080/03637759109376222.
• Corchia, Luca. 2010.La logica dei processi culturali. Jürgen Habermas tra filosofia e sociologia.Genova: Edizioni ECIG.ISBN978-8875441951.
• Dahms, Harry,ed. 2008.No Social Science Without Critical Theory,(Current Perspectives in Social Theory25).Emerald/JAI.
• Gandler, Stefan.2009.Fragmentos de Frankfurt. Ensayos sobre la Teoría crítica.México: 21st Century Publishers/Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro.ISBN978-6070300707.
• Geuss, Raymond.1981.The Idea of a Critical Theory. Habermas and the Frankfurt School.Cambridge University Press.ISBN0521284228.
• Honneth, Axel.2006.La société du mépris. Vers une nouvelle Théorie critique,La Découverte.ISBN978-2707147721.
• Horkheimer, Max.1982.Critical Theory Selected Essays.New York:Continuum Publishing.
• Morgan, Marcia. 2012.Kierkegaard and Critical Theory.New York:Lexington Books.
• Rolling, James H. 2008. "Secular blasphemy: Utter(ed) transgressions against names and fathers in the postmodern era."Qualitative Inquiry14(6):926–48. – An example of critical postmodern work.
• Sim, Stuart,andBorin Van Loon.2001.Introducing Critical Theory.ISBN1840462647.– A short introductory volume with illustrations.
• Thomas, Jim. 1993.Doing Critical Ethnography.London: Sage. pp. 1–5 & 17–25.
• Tracy, S. J. 2000. "Becoming a character for commerce: Emotion labor, self subordination and discursive construction of identity in a total institution."Management Communication Quarterly14(1):90–128. – An example of critical qualitative research.
• Willard, Charles Arthur.1982.Argumentation and the Social Grounds of Knowledge.University of Alabama Press.
• — 1989.A Theory of Argumentation.University of Alabama Press.
• — 1996.Liberalism and the Problem of Knowledge: A New Rhetoric for Modern Democracy.Chicago:University of Chicago Press.
• Chapter 9. Critical TheorySolomon, Robert C.,ed. (2007).The Blackwell Guide to Continental Philosophy.David L. Sherman. Oxford: John Wiley & Sons.ISBN978-1405143042.OCLC437147422.

External links

• "The Frankfurt School and Critical Theory".Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
• Gerhardt, Christina. "Frankfurt School". The International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest. Ness, Immanuel (ed). Blackwell Publishing, 2009. Blackwell Reference Online.
• "Theory: Death Is Not the End"N+1magazine's short history of academic Critical Theory.
• Critical Legal ThinkingACritical Legal Studieswebsite which uses Critical Theory in an analysis of law and politics.
• L. Corchia,Jürgen Habermas. A Bibliography: works and studies (1952–2013),Pisa, Edizioni Il Campano – Arnus University Books, 2013, 606 pages.
• Sim, S.; Van Loon, B. (2009). Introducing Critical Theory: A Graphic Guide. Icon Books Ltd.

Archival collections

• Guide to the Critical Theory Offprint Collection.Special Collections and Archives, The UC Irvine Libraries, Irvine, CaliGuide to the Critical Theory Institute Audio and Video Recordings, University of California, Irvine.Special Collections and Archives, The UC Irvine Libraries, Irvine, California.
• University of California, Irvine, Critical Theory Institute Manuscript Materials.Special Collections and Archives, The UC Irvine Libraries, Irvine, California.