Critical Theory
Also known as: Frankfurt School
Marxist-derived tradition critiquing culture, ideology, and instrumental rationality.
Critical Theory in its specific Frankfurt School sense designates the tradition of social theory developed at the Institut für Sozialforschung (Institute for Social Research) in Frankfurt from 1923 onward, with its distinctive program articulated by Max Horkheimer in 'Traditional and Critical Theory' (1937). The first generation — Horkheimer, Theodor Adorno, Herbert Marcuse, Walter Benjamin, Erich Fromm — developed Marxist-derived analyses substantially extended by engagement with Freud, Hegel, and Weber, exiled to Columbia University from 1934-1953, and produced foundational works including Adorno-Horkheimer's Dialectic of Enlightenment (1944), Adorno's Minima Moralia (1951), Marcuse's One-Dimensional Man (1964), and the Authoritarian Personality study (1950). The framework's central commitments include: critique of instrumental rationality and the culture industry as mechanisms of domination in advanced capitalism; analysis of fascism and authoritarian personality; integration of Marx and Freud; pessimism about the working class as historical agent of emancipation; and an open-ended dialectical method oriented to immanent critique rather than positive program. The second generation, principally Jürgen Habermas (separately enriched in Theory of Communicative Action), substantially reformulated the project around communicative rationality. Third-generation figures including Axel Honneth (recognition theory) continue the tradition. 'Critical theory' more broadly is sometimes used to encompass critical race theory, feminist theory, postcolonial theory, and other normatively-engaged social theory traditions, but the Frankfurt-School sense remains distinct.
Core components
- Critique of instrumental rationality
- Culture industry critique (Adorno-Horkheimer)
- Authoritarian personality (Adorno et al. 1950)
- Negative dialectics
- Immanent critique
- Integration of Marx and Freud
- Aesthetic theory (Adorno)
- Habermas's communicative-rationality reformulation
- Honneth's recognition theory
- Distinction from traditional theory (purportedly value-free)
- Distinction from positivism
Primary use case
Social and cultural theory; critique of mass culture and consumer capitalism; foundation for substantial subsequent critical traditions; analysis of fascism and authoritarian movements; reference framework in cultural studies, media studies, and political theory; basis for ongoing tradition of normatively-engaged social criticism; influence on aesthetics and music theory (Adorno).
Common criticisms
- First-generation pessimism about emancipatory possibilities (particularly Adorno-Horkheimer's Dialectic of Enlightenment) has been argued to lead to political quietism — if administered society is total, what is to be done?
- cultural-critique framing has been critiqued as elitist (the Adornian aesthetic preferences for difficult modernist art over popular forms)
- Habermas's substantial reformulation suggests the first-generation framework was inadequate, but the relation between generations is contested
- critical theorists' Frankfurt-school institutional context shaped specific commitments that don't always travel well
- tension between immanent critique and positive program
- challenges in distinguishing 'critical theory' (Frankfurt-school sense) from broader 'critical' theory traditions
- popular conflation with critical race theory and other distinct traditions creates confusion
- American and European receptions diverge substantially.
Lineage
- Parent of
- Theory of Communicative Action
- Child of
- Conflict Theory
- Siblings
- Conflict Theory, Foucault's Power-Knowledge, Theory of Communicative Action
- Derived from
- Conflict Theory