The Frankfurt School Today

This chapter starts by locating the intersubjective turn in Frankfurt School scholarship as a response to the ‘dead-end’ of Critical Theory in the 1960s. The post-metaphysical and post-Marxian turns in later Frankfurt School scholarship are outlined, as is the primacy of intersubjectivity to second- and third-generation Critical Theory. Five key concepts for Habermas and Honneth are then presented: modernity and social learning processes, post-Marxism, post-metaphysics, communicative action, and recognition. The discussion then moves on to consider how these concepts shaped subsequent social theory with a focus on the intersubjective turn, the fusing of intellectual traditions, and the study of modernity(-ities). The focus then shifts to considering the limitations of second- and third-generation Critical Theory, and the work of Nancy Fraser and Michael J. Thompson is discussed. Key criticisms are outlined, such as the concern that Habermas/Honneth represent a retreat from the critique of capitalism, the lack of a sophisticated theory of power, and that they represent a problematic Eurocentrism. Finally, the chapter addresses how the ideas of later Critical Theorists are used today within social theory and the social sciences more broadly. The increased relevance of theories of communication and the public sphere is outlined, as is the importance of recognition within much social research today.

Sociology · Critical Theory and Philosophy