Critical theory and social pathology : the Frankfurt school beyond recognition / Neal Harris.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Harris, Neal, author.

Series:

Critical theory and contemporary society.

Critical theory and contemporary society

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Fromm, Erich, 1900-1980.

Fromm, Erich.

Marcuse, Herbert, 1898-1979.

Marcuse, Herbert.

Frankfurt school of sociology.

Critical theory.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (ix, 190 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Manchester : Manchester University Press, 2022.

Summary:

Critical theory once offered a powerful, distinctive approach to social research, enabling sociologists to diagnose the irrationalities of the social world across institutions and forms of thought, even within the subject's deepest desires. Yet, with the work of Axel Honneth, such analytical potency has been lost. The 'domestication' of critical theory stems from the programme's embrace of Honneth's 'recognition-cognitivist' understanding of social problems; where all social maladies are understood to lie, ultimately, within the head of social subjects and within the intersubjective relationships they enact. This book explores the manifold limitations of this dominant understanding of social pathologies and builds towards an alternate theoretical infrastructure, drawn from a marriage of insights from Erich Fromm and Herbert Marcuse. While Honneth's critical theory leads to researchers exploring all social problems as 'pathologies of recognition', a return to Fromm and Marcuse reminds critical theorists that power precedes subjectivation and that a wide range of pressing social problems exists which are invisible to the recognition framework. As such, this book urges critical theorists to once again think beyond recognition.

Contents:

Introduction: On the battle for critical theory

part I. Social pathology and the crisis of critical theory. Social pathology : the 'explosive charge' of critical theory ; Distorted by recognition ; Pathologies of recognition

part II. Foundations of pathology diagnosing critique. Rousseau and the foundations of pathology diagnosing social criticism ; Hegelian-Marxism : pathologies of reason, pathologies of production

part III. A Fromm-Marcuse synthesis. Erich Fromm and pathological normalcy ; The pathological normalcy of what? : Towards a Fromm-Marcuse synthesis

Conclusion: The Frankfurt School beyond recognition.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 25 Feb 2026).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781526172853

1526172852

9781526154743

1526154749

9781526154729

1526154722

OCLC:

1352422571