Critical Theory

Critical Theory: The Basics brings clarity to a topic that is confusingly bandied about with various meanings today in popular and academic culture. First defined by Max Horkheimer in the 1930s âœcritical theoryâ now extends far beyond its original German context around the Frankfurt School and the emergence of Nazism. We now often speak of critical theories of race gender anti-colonialism and so forth. This book introduces especially the core program of the first-generation of the Frankfurt School (including Horkheimer Theodor W. Adorno Erich Fromm and Herbert Marcuse) and shows how this program remains crucial to understanding the problems ideologies and systems of the modern world including capitalism racism sexism and the enduring problems of colonialism. It explores basic questions like: What is critical theory? What can critical theory be? What should it be? Why and how does critical theory remain vital to understanding the contemporary world including notions of self society politics art religion culture race gender and class? With suggestions for further reading this book is an ideal starting point for anyone seeking an accessible but robust introduction to the richness and complexity of this tradition and to its continuing importance today. . Language: English