criticaltheory

Critical theory is a social theory aimed at critiquing and changing society as a whole, rather than merely understanding or explaining it. Originating with the Frankfurt School in the 1920s and 1930s, it seeks to reveal how structures of power, domination, and ideology reproduce social inequalities and inhibit human freedom.

Key figures include Max Horkheimer, Theodor Adorno, Walter Benjamin, Herbert Marcuse, and Jürgen Habermas. They developed a program of critique that combines philosophy, sociology, and cultural analysis. The Institute for Social Research in Frankfurt became a hub for European scholars who fled Nazism and sought to apply critical analysis to capitalism, culture, and modernity.

Core concepts include the critique of instrumental rationality, the culture industry, and ideology. Critical theory aims at emancipation by exposing how beliefs and practices obscure domination and by identifying avenues for transformative social action while maintaining a commitment to human dignity and democracy.

Influence and scope: it has shaped sociology, political theory, literary and cultural studies, media studies, and feminist and postcolonial critiques. The approach often emphasizes dialectical reasoning, historical context, and the role of ideology in shaping perception and behavior.

Critiques of critical theory center on concerns about normative bias, grand narratives, and limited empirical methods. Some scholars argue that it underestimates the possibility of peaceful reform; others see it as compatible with liberal democracy or as a precursor to contemporary critical and post-structural theories.