The Podcast for Social Research
Podcast for Social Research, Episode 67: What is Critical Theory?
Podcast summary created with Snipd AI
Quick takeaways
- Critical theory challenges narratives of progress and explores power structures and social divisions.
- Negativity is central in critical theory, enabling resistance and critique of the status quo.
- Critical theory examines the crisis of legitimacy in capitalist societies and questions the sustainability of the current socio-economic order.
- Critical theory promotes active engagement with social movements, envisioning alternatives to capitalism while learning from past failures.
Deep dives
The Relevance of Critical Theory Today
Critical theory provides a framework for understanding and analyzing the contradictions and crises within modern society. It challenges narratives of progress and seeks to uncover the underlying power structures and social divisions that perpetuate injustice.
The Role of Negativity in Critical Theory
Negativity is a central theme in critical theory, emphasizing the need to resist and critique the status quo. By preserving a critical attitude, it is possible to hold society accountable for what it is not and imagine alternative futures.
The Crisis of Legitimacy and the Dialectics of Capitalism
Critical theory highlights the crisis of legitimacy within capitalist societies, where the system struggles to reconcile the accumulation of capital with democratic governance. The tension between these two imperatives raises questions about the sustainability and fairness of the current socio-economic order.
The Need for Reflexive Action and the Future of Critical Theory
Critical theory calls for a reflexive approach that involves active engagement with social movements and struggles. It encourages a deeper understanding of the divisions within society and seeks to envision alternative possibilities beyond capitalism, while confronting the failures of past attempts to transcend it.
The Challenge of Uncertainty and Value
The podcast explores the challenges of uncertainty surrounding facts and values in the current century. The speakers discuss how the unknown nature of the future and uncertainty about societal values have major impacts on decision-making and the ways in which we balance different values. It is emphasized that going beyond a critique of instrumental rationality and considering new perspectives is essential in navigating these challenges.
Reassessing Instrumental Reason and Critique
The podcast highlights the need to move beyond a purely negative critique of instrumental reason and its limitations. The speakers discuss how a more comprehensive understanding of values, including care and sustainability, should be integrated into decision-making processes. This reframing of values and a focus on care can provide a more holistic approach to societal issues and address the limitations of instrumental reason.
The Importance of Utopian Thinking
The podcast emphasizes the importance of utopian thinking in envisioning alternative futures and inspiring transformative action. While acknowledging the dark realities of the present world, the speakers highlight the need to imagine and strive for a better society. Utopias are seen as an untimely response to the fractured nature of time and a call for responsible action and reasonable transformation. By engaging with utopian thinking, it becomes possible to challenge existing norms, envision new possibilities, and work towards a more just and equitable future.
In episode 67 of the Podcast for Social Research, a live recording of the opening panel of two-day symposium Frankfurt School and the Now, BISR’s Ajay Singh Chaudhary and Rebecca Ariel Porte and guests Seyla Benhabib and Aaron Benanav answer the perennial question, What is Critical Theory? As they trace a line from Kant to Marx to the classic and latter-day Frankfurt School critical theorists, they grapple with a wide range of attending questions: How can we understand the concept of critique itself? How does philosophy relate to social theory? What are we to make of critical theory's fraught history as a practice of negativity (the source of many of its most piercing insights and also of its perceived troubles for praxis)? Must criticism provide a solution? Or is the critique of “progress” as urgent as ever? In the 21st century, what remains of critical theory—and what doesn’t?
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