Critical Theory

Week 2

What Is Critical Theory?

• Preliminaries: How do we organize a diverse society?
• Critical Theory as cultural/social analysis
• Critical Theory as cultural/social theory
• Critical Theory as the theory of popular culture
• Critical Theory as Frankfurt School
• Critical Theory as political critique and action

Why care about Critical Theory?

• What's Critical Theory Critical Of?
  • Positivism
  • The Enlightenment
  • Modernism
  • Fascism & Communism
  • The Bureaucratic State
  • Technophilia
  • The Corporate World
  • Media and Mass Culture
• What's Theoretical About Critical Theory?
• Theory: For and Against
• Themes of Critical Theory
• Discourse and Critical Theory
• How Critical Theory Does Its Work
• Does Critical Theory Care About Truth?

Who's Behind All This?

• Kant
• Hegel
  • Stages in the Development of Consciousness
• Marx: Overview
• Marx & Critical Theory
• Nietzsche
• Weber
• Freud
  • More on Freud