Critical Theory

ISBN-13: 9780333751527 / Angielski / Miękka / 2003 / 204 str.

Alan How

Opis

This book examines the intellectual contribution made by Frankfurt School Critical Theory to our understanding of modern life. Thematically organized and offering a strong mix of historical and contemporary material, it considers the work of both the first and second generation. While the work of the latter is often taken to exceed that of the former, the author suggests that insights gleaned by both, regarding the human subject, offer a significant alternative to postmodern ideas.

Spis treści

Foreword.- Introduction.- PART 1: HISTORICAL CONTOURS Early Days, Early Doubts: From Optimism to Ambiguity.- Disillusion and the Rise of the Nietzschean Streak.- The Reconstruction of Critical Theory: From Ideology Critique to Communicative Reason.- PART 2: SUBSTANTIVE IDEAS: THE FIRST GENERATION Rationalisation as Reification.- Critical Theory, the Family and the Narcissistic Personality.- PART 3: SUBSTANTIVE IDEAS: THE SECOND GENERATION Overcoming the Impasse: Habermas's Reconstruction of Critical Theory.- Critical Theory and Postmodernism.- PART 4: CONCLUSION Why Read Critical Theory?.- Further Reading.- Bibliography.

O autorze

ALAN HOW is Curriculum Leader for undergraduate sociology and Course Leader for the Masters programme at University College Worcester. His previous book is The Habermas-Gadamer Debate and the Nature of the Social (1995).