Events

Are capitalist societies necessarily racist? If so, why? We discuss with Manuela Bojadžijev, Nancy Fraser, Bafta Sarbo and Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor.

In this round table event we discussed with Hauke Brunkhorst, Stefan Gosepath, Asad Haider, Sabine Hark, Serene Khader, Stefan Lessenich, and Frederick Neuhouser. Organized by the Humanities and Social Change Center Berlin (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin) in cooperation with the Frankfurt Institute for Social Research and the New School for Social Research (Alice Crary).  How can […]

with Bhaskar Sunkara, Christine Berry and Axel Honneth

with Gregg Gonsalves, Rahel Jaeggi and Robin Celikates

with Andrew Arato, Jean Cohen, Fabian Freyenhagen, Regina Kreide and Frederick Neuhouser

Democracy is in crisis. Phenomena such as the electoral success of authoritarian leaders as well as the growing distrust in public institutions and media certify this. But what are the underlying reasons for such developments? Is this crisis democracy’s own crisis, or does it originate elsewhere in the social order?

with Andrew Arato, Jean Cohen and Oliver Marchart

The controversy about how to evaluate the concept of “the people” evolves around pressing political questions that are in need of further theoretical reflection. Is it possible to distinguish an emancipatory, inclusive and subaltern people from a reactionary, nationalist and exclusive one that is based on the privilege of identity? Or are both ways of defining the demos deeply entangled with each other, both historically and conceptually?

Eine Welt im Krisenmodus. Der Begriff der Krise hat sowohl im öffentlichen als auch wissenschaftlichen Diskurs Konjunktur. Zu einer Leitkategorie gesellschaftlicher Reflexion avanciert, dient er der Beschreibung und Bewertung bestimmter disruptiver Entwicklungen und Dynamiken moderner Gesellschaften. Augenscheinlich ist dabei, dass sich gegenwärtig nicht nur die Krisendiagnosen mehren. Ebenso ist eine Tendenz zu beobachten, ganz unterschiedliche […]

The concept of ideology played a crucial role in explaining the stability of domination at a time when capitalism’s inherent contradictions seemed ripe for it to be overcome. The idea of “false consciousness”, so central to the theorizing of the first generation of Frankfurt School thinkers, resonates with a range of ideas across various strands […]

This round-table marked the conclusion of the 2018 Critical Theory Summer School on Ideology. It attempted to summarize some strands of the discussions pursued throughout the week and asked specifically about what new directions and impulses should guide ideology critique. Do we need a more comprehensive framework for unifying various analyses, for instance within a […]

The opening panel of the 2017 Critical Theory Summer School was devoted to the role of progress in Critical Theory. Understood as a kind of learning process or even the trajectory of history overall, progress has played a central role in Critical Theory from the beginning. At the same time, it has been regarded as […]

If we take seriously that progress is not just a random improvement but comes about in historical processes, the question of how social change is theorized moves center stage. Is there such a thing as logics of history? Which social theory can best account for transformation?  Is there a type of dynamics specific to progress, […]

This panel served as the wrap-up for the 2017 Critical Theory Summer School. Alice Crary and Anna Katsman opened the discussion with their reports on the week’s discussions, afterwards core questions and debates were revisited by Hauke Brunkhorst, Rahel Jaeggi, Alessandro Pinzani and Martin Saar.

While Max Horkheimer defined Critical Theory as the intellectual side of political struggles, Theodor Adorno is notorious for his skepticism vis-a-vis political action, most pronounced in his uneasy relation to the ’68 students movement. Maeve Cooke traces this back to a problematic conception of the (dis-)connection between theory and practice in Adorno’s philosophy. Against what […]

Critical Theory Roundtable #2 Fabian Freyenhagen: Was ist orthodoxe Kritische Theorie? Max Horkheimer bestimmte 1937 die Kritische Theorie als “vom Interesse an vernünftigen Zuständen durchherrscht”, und damit als die “intellektuelle Seite” des historischen Prozesses der Emanzipation.  Dieses Interesse lasse die Theorie “auf bestimmte Weise als parteiisch” erscheinen, “da sie den herrschenden Denkgewohnheiten, die zum Fortbestehen […]

Nancy Fraser ist Henry A. und Louise Loeb Professor of Political and Social Science und Professorin für Philosophie an der New School in New York City. Grundlage der Diskussion mit Nancy Frasers war ihr kürzlich veröffentlichter Artikel zum Thema „Contradictions of Capital and Care“. In diesem vertritt Nancy Fraser die These, dass sich kapitalistische Gesellschaften […]