Critical Theory : A Very Short Introduction
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In its essence, Critical Theory is Western Marxist thought with the emphasis moved from the liberation of the working class to broader issues of individual agency. Critical Theory emerged in the 1920s from the work of the Frankfurt School, the circle of German-Jewish academics who sought to diagnose--and, if at all possible, cure--the ills of society, particularly fascism and capitalism. In this book, Stephen Eric Bronner provides sketches of famous and less famous representatives of the critical tradition (such as George Lukács and Ernst Bloch, Theodor Adorno and Walter Benjamin, Herbert Marcuse and Jurgen Habermas) as well as many of its seminal texts and empirical investigations. Though they shared a Marxist bent, the Frankfurt School's scholars came from a variety of fields--philosophy, economics, psychoanalysis, and even music--and they initially sought not only to do interdisciplinary work but also to combine theory with practice, criticism with empirical data. Forced by the rise of Hitler to flee to the United States, by the late 1930s the Frankfurt School left behind the emphasis on empiricism, beginning instead to specialize in philosophical inquiry into the nature of social control, which combined the work of Hegel, Marx, Freud, and Nietzsche. This VSI is ultimately organized around the cluster of concepts and themes that set critical theory apart from its more traditional philosophical competitors. Bronner explains and discusses concepts such as method and agency, alienation and reification, the culture industry and repressive tolerance, non-identity and utopia. He argues for the introduction of new categories and perspectives for illuminating the obstacles to progressive change and focusing upon hidden transformative possibilities. Only a critique of critical theory can render it salient for a new age. That is precisely what this very short introduction seeks to provide.
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6 reviews
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
A crash course in political theory
9 Jun 2011
Format:Paperback
It is difficult to ask an academic to sum up a tradition, complete with the main theories and an introduction to its most seminal thinkers, in a little over 100 pages. It is an even more difficult task to take on the challenge of doing that for a tradition as complex and rich as Critical Theory. As a tradition Critical theory demands much of the reader- an understanding of the main themes and terminology in Marxist theory, Freudian Psychoanalysis, Weberian Social theory and an aptitude for intertwining each of these strands in an attempt to fabricate a greater social reality. Professor Bronner is extremely proficient at accomplishing this and making it digestible for even a critical theory novice. The language he uses, considering the complexity of the concepts vital to the tradition, is flowing and natural. It is clear that Professor Bronner has a unique control over the various concepts in critical theory. Furthermore, in keeping with the critical theory tradition, he maintains a historicity throughout by trying to capture the milieu in which these ideas came about. So far as I can tell, the purpose of these introductory books is to whet the palate of the reader and to push them to discover more of these traditions. Professor Bronner does this and more and I would recommend this to anybody who wanted to begin to approach society through a 'ruthless critique of everything existing'.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Short and yet thorough
6 Aug 2011
Format:Paperback
This little book does a wonderful job of concisely giving an intellectual history of critical theory and showing the many commitments it has. One reviewer here suggested that all critical theory seems to be about is alienation and oppression. Perhaps because I studied under Prof. Bronner, but it seems that, insofar as these two areas are of paramount importance for conceptions of justice, I'm not sure what else one could expect to take on in thinking about politics and social relations in the contemporary world. Moreover, these are huge concerns with complicated causes and difficult possible solutions. And the book does an excellent job of laying out the various understandings of the causes of alienation (which is the internal effect) and oppression (which is the external, systemic cause of alienation and suffering) under specifically capitalist, and more generally, modern political systems. In any event, since it sprang out of left or Marxist thought as well as historical-economic circumstances, contemporary critical theory took on a particular character and orientation toward these questions. The cirtical theory that developed in the Frankfurt School in Germany indelibly shaped the method of social analysis. It developed not so much against orthodox Marxism as it was an attempt to deal with the apparent shortcomings in the system that became clear as evidenced by the tenaciously strong influence liberal capitalism still exerted, and the highly problematic, anti-humanist tenor of fasicsm and Soviet-style communism that developed in response. Critical theory's insight was to attempt to show the fuller implications of Marxist thought, especially the ignored or neglected insights of the young Marx. This necessarily took the analysis into new areas of culture, psychoanalysis, and so on. As the title of this review suggests, this book does a thorough job of touching on all of these highly complex threads in a slender 144 pages.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Superbly written
14 Jun 2011
Format:Paperback
Critical Theory: A Very Short Introduction is a profound and insightful work. Bronner presents a comprehensive overview that examines the foundations of critical theory and its central themes, leaving no stone unturned. As such, it represents a great scholarly contribution and should be required reading for those who are serious about understanding this topic.
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