Cover image for
Title:
Critical theory : a very short introduction / Stephen Eric Bronner.
Author:
Bronner, Stephen Eric, 1949- author.
Publication Information:
New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2017]
Call Number:
HM480 .B76 2017
Abstract:
"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 leading 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. This Very Short Introduction sheds light on 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. In this newly updated second edition, Bronner targets new academic interests, broadens his argument, and adapts it to a global society amid the resurgence of right-wing politics and neo-fascist movements."--Provided by publisher.
Edition:
Second edition.
ISBN:
9780190692674
Series:
Very short introductions

Very short introductions.
Physical Description:
xx, 140 pages : illustrations ; 18 cm.
Contents:
Preface -- Introduction: what is critical theory? -- The frankfurt school -- A matter of method -- Critical theory and modernism -- Alienation and reification -- Enlightened illusions -- The utopian laboratory -- The happy consciousness -- The great refusal -- From resignation to renewal -- Unfinished tasks : solidarity, resistance, and global society -- Further reading -- Index.
Copies: