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Social criticism

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Social criticismis a form of academic or journalisticcriticismfocusing on social issues in contemporarysociety,in respect to perceivedinjusticesandpowerrelations in general.

Social criticism of the Enlightenment

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The origin of modern social criticism go back at least to theAge of Enlightenment.According to the historianJonathan Israelthe roots of the radical enlightenment can be found inSpinozaand his circle.[1]Radical enlighteners likeJean Meslierwere not satisfied with the social criticism of the time, which was essentially a criticism of religion. The focus of his criticism was the suffering of the peasants. In addition, there was also a criticism of civilization for religious reasons, such as that which emanated from theQuakersin England.Jean-Jacques Rousseaudeveloped a social criticism in his political philosophy which influenced the French Revolution and in his pedagogy.

Academic forms

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Thepositivism disputebetweencritical rationalism,e.g. betweenKarl Popperand theFrankfurt School,[2]dealt with the question of whether research in thesocial sciencesshould be "neutral" or consciously adopt a partisan view. Academic works of social criticism can belong tosocial philosophy,political economy,sociology,social psychology,psychoanalysisbut alsocultural studiesand other disciplines or reject academic forms ofdiscourse.[3]

In literature and music

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See also:Literary criticism

Social criticism can be expressed in a fictional form, e.g. in arevolutionarynovel likeThe Iron Heel(1908) byJack London,indystopian novelslikeAldous Huxley'sBrave New World(1932),George Orwell'sNineteen Eighty-Four(1949),Ray Bradbury'sFahrenheit 451(1953), amdRafael Grugman'sNontraditional Love(2008), or inchildren's booksor films. According toFrederick Douglass,"Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe."[4]

Fictional literature can have a significant social impact. For example, the 1852 novelUncle Tom's Cabin,byHarriet Beecher Stowefurthered theanti-slavery movementin the United States, and the 1885 novelRamona,byHelen Hunt Jackson,brought about changes in laws regardingNative Americans.Similarly,Upton Sinclair's 1906 novelThe Junglehelped create new laws related to public health and food handling, andArthur Morrison's 1896 novelA Child of the Jagocaused England to change its housing laws.

Charles Dickensand Orwell respectively wroteA Tale of Two CitiesandAnimal Farmto express their disillusionment with society and human nature.A Tale of Two Citiestypifies this kind of literature. Besides the central theme of love is another prevalent theme, that of a revolution gone bad. Dickens shows that human nature causes humans to be vengeful and at time overly ambitious. Both of these books are similar in that both describe how, even with the best of intentions, human ambitions get the best of them.Animal Farm,written in 1944, is a book that tells the animal fable of a farm in which the farm animals revolt against their human masters. It is an example of social criticism in literature in which Orwell satirized the events in Russia after theBolshevik Revolution.He anthropomorphizes the animals, and alludes each one to a counterpart inRussian history.Both authors also demonstrate that violence and theMachiavellianattitude of "the ends justifying the means" are deplorable. They also express their authors' disenchantment with the state of evolution of human nature.

Dickens and Orwell imply, that even if humans begin with honourable intentions, there will be some who will let their basic instincts take control. InA Tale of Two Cities,Dickens examines the inner soul, and shares with us how people are driven to the valley of human emotions, where desperation and anger reign, and what could happen afterwards if we let these emotions build up inside. Every human being is capable of becoming a ruthless, opportunistic being likeNapoleonorMadame Defarge,if placed in the right place, at the right time.Animal Farmportrays this nature through parodying events in real history. Given the right conditions, these events could happen anywhere, for example a leader becoming overly ambitious to the point of harming his people for more power.

Social criticism is present inopera(e.g.The Cradle Will RockorTrouble in Tahiti) and other types ofclassical music,such as theSymphony No.13,called "Babi Yar",ofDmitri Shostakovich.Othermusicalexpressions of social criticism are frequent inpunkandrapmusic, examples being "Pretty Vacant"bySex Pistolsand "Brenda's Got a Baby"by2Pac.Heavy metalandindustrial rockbands such asBlack Sabbath,Metallica,Marilyn Manson,Nine Inch NailsandMegadethalso use social criticism extensively, particularly in their earlier works.

Literature

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Classical writings

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Important contemporary works

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See also

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References

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  1. ^Jonatahan Israel Radical Enlightenment: Philosophy and the Making of Modernity 1650-1750, Oxford University Press 2002
  2. ^D'Amico, Robert (21 December 1990)."Karl Popper and the Frankfurt School".Telos.1990(86):33–48.doi:10.3817/1290086033.ISSN0090-6514.S2CID147263662.
  3. ^"Types of Literary Criticism".
  4. ^From Douglass's speech in 1886 on the 24th anniversary ofemancipation,Washington, D.C.
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