The writings of the Frankfurt School, in particular of Horkheimer, Adorno, Marcuse, and Jurgen Habermas, caught the imagination of the radical movements of the 1960s and 1970s and became a key element in the Marxism of the New Left.

Partly due to their rise to prominence during the political turmoil of the 1960s, the work of these critical theorists has been the subject of continuing controversy in both political and academic circles. However, their ideas are frequently misunderstood.

In this major work, David Held presents a much-needed introduction to, and evaluation of, critical theory. Some of the major themes he considers are critical theory’s relation to Marx’s critique of political economy, Freudian psychoanalysis, aesthetics and the philosophy of history. There is also an extended discussion of critical theory’s substantive contribution to the analysis of capitalism, culture, the family, the individual, as well as its contribution to epistemology and methodology.

Introduction

1. The formation of the Institute of Social Research

2. Class, class conflict and the development of capitalism: critical theory and political economy

3. The culture industry: critical theory and aesthetics

4. The changing structure of the family and the individual: critical theory and psychoanalysis

5. The critique of instrumental reason: critical theory and philosophy of history

6. Horkheimer’s formulation of critical theory: epistemology and method 1

7. Adorno’s conception of negative dialectics: epistemology and method 2

8. Marcuse’s notions of theory and practice: epistemology and method 3

9. Introduction to Habermas

10. Discourse, science and society

11. Interests, knowledge and action

12. The reformulation of the foundations of critical theory

13. An assessment of the Frankfurt school and Habermas

14. The concept of critical theory