Introduction to ‘Theodor W. Adorno on Marx and the Basic Concepts of Sociological Theory. From a Seminar Transcript in the Summer Semester of 1962’

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 137-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris O’Kane
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Critical Theory ◽  
Social Theory ◽  
Sociological Theory ◽  
Critical Social Theory ◽  
Basic Concepts ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Summer Semester ◽  
Critical Social

AbstractThis introduction outlines the importance that Hans-Georg Backhaus’s transcript of Adorno’s 1962 seminar on ‘Marx and the Basic Concepts of Sociological Theory’ has for shedding light on the relationship between Adorno’s critical theory and the critique of political economy. PartIsignals the importance of the seminar by assaying the Anglophone scholarship on Adorno. PartIIcontextualises the seminar in the development of his thought. PartsIIIandIVfocus on what the transcript tells us about Adorno’s interpretation of Marx and the importance this interpretation held for Adorno’s critical social theory. PartVpoints to the influence this interpretation of the critique of political economy had on the formation of the New German Reading of Marx.

On the Development of the Critique of Political Economy as a Critical Social Theory of Economic Objectivity

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 175-193
Author(s):  
Chris O’Kane
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Critical Theory ◽  
Social Theory ◽  
Review Essay ◽  
Critical Social Theory ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Critical Social

AbstractThis review-essay assays Werner Bonefeld’s timely attempt to unite contemporary critical theory with the critique of political economy. I begin by contextualising Bonefeld’s contribution in relation to the dearth of material on this issue in contemporary anglophone critical theory. I then discuss the anglophone reception of Adornian critical theory and provide an overview of the development of the subterranean critical-theoretical interpretations of the critique of political economy that Adorno influenced which have been occluded by the former. This sets up my discussion of how Bonefeld has taken up, criticised and developed this subterranean strand in critical theory and the critique of political economy. I close with some criticisms of how Bonefeld addresses the relationship between critical theory and the critique of political economy and point toward several areas of further investigation that are intended to extend this approach to the contemporary critical theory of society.

scholarly journals Šiądienos kritinės teorijos klausimu

2013 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 205-038
Author(s):  
Algimantas Valantiejus
Keyword(s):  
Critical Theory ◽  
Social Theory ◽  
Frankfurt School ◽  
Critical Social Theory ◽  
Theoretical Problem ◽  
Theoretical Structure ◽  
Social Theories ◽  
Contemporary Practice ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Critical Social

Santrauka. Šio straipsnio paskirtis – atnaujinti diskusiją dėl teorinės struktūros sandaros, kurią suda­ro ir analitiniai, ir normatyviniai elementai. Pagrindinis uždavinys – analitiškumo ir normatyviškumo komponentų kintančioje kritinės socialinės teorijos sandaroje identifikavimas ir metodologinių požiūrių į šių komponentų tarpusavio santykį šiuolaikinėse praktikos teorijose analizė. Siekiama atsakyti į klausimą, kodėl kritikos sąvoka šiuolaikinėse praktikos teorijose keičiama reflektyvumo sąvoka. Straipsnyje, remiantis kritinių teoretikų nuorodomis ir jas interpretuojant, analizuojamos „nekalto“ (Wittgensteino Filosofinių tyrinėjimų 308 fragmente aptariama prasme) terminologinio pakeitimo euristinės implikacijos šių dienų kritinėms socialinėms teorijoms, kurios skiriamos nuo ankstyvosios Frankfurto kritinės teorijos. Pagrindiniai žodžiai: kritika, reflektyvumas, kritinė teorija, kritinė socialinė teorija, praktikos teo­rija. Key words: critique, reflexivity, critical theory, critical social theory, practice theory. ABSTRACT ON THE QUESTION OF CRITICAL THEORY TODAY The task of this article is to renew the discussion about the theoretical structure which includes both analytical and normative elements. The main theoretical problem analyzed in the article is the identifi­cation of analytical and normative elements in the structure of critical social theory and the analysis of the relationship between these elements in contemporary practice theories. The article seeks to answer the ques­tion why the concept of critique in contemporary practice theories is changed by the concept of reflexivity. The article aims to emphasize the implications of this „innocent“ terminological change for contemporary critical social theories, distinguished from early Critical Theory of Frankfurt School.

scholarly journals Die Ordnung des Wissens

2008 ◽  
Vol 38 (151) ◽  
pp. 255-270 ◽  
Author(s):  
Florian Kappeler
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Theory ◽  
Social Theory ◽  
Karl Marx ◽  
The Other ◽  
Critical Social Theory ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Archaeology Of Knowledge ◽  
The One ◽  
Critical Social

In its first part, the article deals with Michel Foucaults "discourse analysis", as developed in his "Archaeology of knowledge". The second part considers the concept of discourse in relation to Foucaults "analytic of power" and to a critical theory of society inspired by Karl Marx, especially Louis Althussers notion of ideology. Thus, on the one hand, some propositions for a methodology of discourse analysis are being made, and, on the other hand, its position within a project of critical social theory is discussed.

Critical Theory and the Critique of Capitalism: An Immanent Critique of Nancy Fraser's “Systematic” “Crisis-Critique” of Capitalism as an “Institutionalized Social Order”

2021 ◽  
Vol 85 (2) ◽  
pp. 207-235
Author(s):  
Chris O'Kane
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Critical Theory ◽  
Social Theory ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Capitalist Society ◽  
Critical Social Theory ◽  
Alternative Possibility ◽  
Systematic Theory ◽  
Immanent Critique ◽  
Nancy Fraser

The predominant approach to contemporary critical theory lacks a critical theory of capitalist society. Nancy Fraser has endeavored to provide such a critical theory in her “systematic” “crisis–critique” of capitalism as an “institutionalized social order.” Yet Fraser's “systematic” theory is not systematic, but fragmentary and internally inconsistent. The Marxian premises of Fraser's theory are at odds with its ensuing Habermasian notions of capitalism, contradiction, crises, and emancipation, and her theory consequently lacks a robust explication of these dynamics. This raises the alternative possibility of developing a contemporary critical theory of the crisis–ridden reproduction of the negative totality of capitalist society that brings Adorno and Horkheimer's critical theory together with the subterranean strand of contemporary critical theory: the New Reading of the critique of political economy as a critical social theory.

ConclusionBringing the Economy Back In

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Onur Ulas Ince
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Cultural Differences ◽  
Social Theory ◽  
Critical Social Theory ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
Colonial Capitalism ◽  
Critical Social

This chapter recapitulates the theoretical conclusions of the book, highlights its contributions, and identifies the further lines of research that it opens up. It is argued that colonial capitalism offers a new perspective on liberalism and empire by shifting the focus from who the colonized are to what the colonizers do as an ideological challenge to the universal claims of liberalism. Secondly, colonial capitalism as an analytic frame can generate systematic explanations of how liberal thinkers parsed and ordered the variety of cultural differences between Europeans and non-Europeans, and why they emphasized certain differences over others as being more relevant for imperial justification or anti-imperial critique. Finally, it is maintained that introducing capitalism into the study of political theory in the imperial context pushes the boundaries of political theory more broadly to encompass questions, such as of dispossession and exploitation, conventionally relegated to critical social theory and political economy.

Marcuse Today: An Introduction

2021 ◽  
pp. 026327642110514
Author(s):  
Douglas Kellner ◽  
Rainer Winter
Keyword(s):  
Critical Theory ◽  
Social Theory ◽  
Critical Social Theory ◽  
Critical Social

This contribution serves as an invitation to a renewed exploration of Herbert Marcuse’s critical theory. It discloses his continued relevance for critical social theory and politics in the contemporary moment and why Marcuse should not be condemned to the dustbin of history but should be appropriated and developed in our contemporary conditions in which crises are multiplying.

The Pacifist Tradition and Pacifism as Transformative and Critical Theory

Acorn ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-28
Author(s):  
Andrew Fiala ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Conflict Resolution ◽  
Critical Theory ◽  
Social Theory ◽  
Just War ◽  
Community Building ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Critical Social Theory ◽  
Critical Theories ◽  
Just War Tradition ◽  
Critical Social

Pacifism is often painted into a corner as an absolute rejection of all violence and war. Such a dogmatic and negative formulation of pacifism does leave us with pacifism as a morally problematic position. But pacifism is not best understood as a negative claim. Nor is pacifism best understood as a singular or monistic concept. Rather, there is a “pacifist tradition” that is grounded in an affirmative claim about the importance of nonviolence, love, community building, and peaceful conflict resolution. This more positive conception of pacifism aims to transform social and political life. When understood in this way, pacifism is a robust and useful critical social theory. This paper explores the philosophy of pacifism in an attempt to reconceptualize pacifism as a tradition of normative critical theory. The paper argues that pacifism ought to be understood on analogy with other critical theories—such as feminism; that pacifism should be understood in terms of the “pacifist tradition”—along lines familiar from interpretations of the “just war tradition”; and that pacifism should be seen as offering interesting themes and ideas that are worthy of philosophical attention.

In Search of the Wanderer and Free Spirits: The Ascetic Absence of Nietzsche in American Sociology

2018 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 167-181
Author(s):  
Michael James Roberts
Keyword(s):  
Social Theory ◽  
Sociological Theory ◽  
American Exceptionalism ◽  
Critical Social Theory ◽  
Talcott Parsons ◽  
American Sociology ◽  
The Wanderer ◽  
Critical Social

This article examines the unfortunate absence of Nietzsche from sociological theory as it is practiced and reproduced in American sociology. The first part discusses how Talcott Parsons erased the presence of Nietzsche from Weber’s work as part of a larger ideological maneuver to provide a theoretical grounding for the belief in American exceptionalism. The second part of the article compares and contrasts Nietzsche to the conventional sociology of Weber and Durkheim in order to demonstrate how Nietzsche’s work provides sociologists with valuable material to be used for a critique of conventional sociological theory. American sociology is long overdue for a sustained engagement with Nietzsche. Such an undertaking is particularly relevant for those concerned with the on-going project of reconstructing a critical social theory that has emancipatory aims.

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