Critical Theory

Historical Foundations

Most contemporary scholars attribute the emergence of critical theory to Max Horkheimer and the Frankfurt School of Social Research in Frankfurt, Germany, popularly known as the Frankfurt School. In 1937, Horkheimer published a now famous essay entitled “Traditional and Critical Theory,” in which he outlined a needed change in the scholarly pursuit of knowledge. The traditional approach to research at the time privileged objective scientific methods and implicitly emphasized strict interpretations of Marx and, ultimately, Communist values for social organizing and governance.

Largely responsive to the time period, Horkheimer called his colleagues to shift their energies to a new focus that would use Marxist theory in unorthodox and resistant ways, what is now understood as neo-Marxism. This approach [Page 238]uses Marxism as a theory to understand inequalities within a society. Unlike traditional approaches that used Marx as a universalizing theory, critical theorists use Marxist concepts such as exploitation, alienation, ideology, and class consciousness to understand the dynamics of marginalization. In reinterpreting Marx, Horkheimer specifically called his colleagues to use theory as a mode of critique to understand and ultimately change the organization of society. The first dimension of this new criticism was to historically examine the way a social structure forms and marginalizes particular groups. Second, Horkheimer believed that critical theorists should do interdisciplinary social research, analyzing politics, economics, sociology, and history, among other disciplines, to holistically understand relations of domination within a society.

The writings of Marx are certainly a cornerstone of critical theory, but so is Freudian psychoanalysis. The Frankfurt School theorist most interested in the psychoanalytic dimension of social critique was Erich Fromm. In particular, Fromm examined the relationship between personal freedom and social control, believing that the minute individuals achieve freedom, they search for some authority for affirmation of that freedom. While Fromm was questioned by others at the school for this focus, later it would become well accepted that, in addition to understanding how social structures exist external to individuals, scholars should also examine the ways structures embed themselves in the psyches of individuals and classes of people.

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