Critical Theory
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Traditional theory is oriented only to
understanding or explaining society
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Critical theory, in contrast, is social theory
oriented toward critiquing and changing society as a whole.
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A critical theory provides the descriptive and
normative bases for social inquiry aimed at decreasing domination and
increasing freedom in all their forms
Critical Theory:
Narrow and Broad
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Critical Theory has a narrow and a broad meaning in
philosophy and in the history of the social sciences
•
In the narrow sense it designates several generations of German
philosophers and social theorists in the Western European Marxist tradition
known as the Frankfurt
School
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Max Horkheimer
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Theodor Adorno
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Herbert Marcuse
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Leo Lowenthal
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Although this “narrow” conception of critical
theory originated with the Frankfurt
School , it also prevails
among other recent social scientists, such as
–
Pierre Bourdieu,
–
Louis Althusser and arguably
–
Michel Foucault and
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Bryan Reynolds,
–
as well as certain feminist theorists and social
scientists.
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According to these theorists, a theory is critical to the extent that it seeks human emancipation
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“to liberate human beings from the circumstances
that enslave them” (Horkheimer 1982, 244)
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Because such theories aim to explain and transform
all the circumstances that enslave human beings, many “critical
theories” in the broader sense have been developed.
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world systems theory,
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feminist theory,
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postcolonial theory,
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critical race theory,
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critical media studies,
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queer theory,
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Core concepts are
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That critical social theory 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)
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That Critical Theory should improve understanding
of society by integrating all the major social sciences, including economics,
sociology, history, political science, anthropology, and psychology
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The normative orientation of Critical Theory, at
least in its form of critical social inquiry, is therefore towards the
transformation of capitalism into a “real democracy”
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A critical theory is adequate only if it meets
three criteria:
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It must be explanatory: explain what is wrong with
current social reality
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It must be practical: identify the actors to
change it
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It must be normative: provide both clear norms for
criticism and achievable practical goals for social transformation
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It must satisfy all three of these criteria at the
same time