Quote: "A critical theory is any approach to humanities and social philosophy that focuses on society and culture to attempt to reveal, critique, and challenge power structures."
It explores the relationship between culture, power, and social inequality.
Power: The concept of power as an asymmetrical relationship in which some individuals or groups have greater control, influence, and authority over others.
Ideology: The set of beliefs and values that shape our understanding of reality, often reflecting the interests of those who hold power.
Hegemony: The dominant culture's ability to maintain its status and power over other cultures through the use of cultural and intellectual means.
Discourse: The ways in which language and communication shape our understanding of reality and reinforce particular ideologies.
Identity: The ways in which individuals are constructed and defined by social and cultural factors including race, gender, sexuality, and class.
Historical materialism: The idea that social systems and structures are shaped by economic and material conditions.
Representation: The ways in which people, social groups, and ideas are portrayed in various forms of media and cultural production.
Resistance: The ways in which individuals and groups challenge dominant power structures and ideologies.
Postmodernism: A philosophical movement that challenges the notion of singular truth, objective knowledge, and universal human experiences.
Globalization: The process of economic, political, and social integration among nations and cultures, often resulting in the spread of dominant cultural values and practices.
Marxist Critical Theory: This Critical Theory focuses on the role of social and economic class in shaping society and culture. It examines how dominant classes use their power to maintain their position and exploit subordinate classes.
Feminist Critical Theory: This focuses on gender inequality and the ways in which patriarchy reinforces this inequality. It also examines the intersection of gender with other forms of oppression, such as race and class.
Queer Theory: This theory examines the ways in which heteronormativity has structured society and culture, and how queer identities have been marginalized and excluded.
Critical Race Theory: This theory focuses on race and racism as a means of understanding power and inequality in society. It examines how systemic racism operates in society and how it is perpetuated.
Postcolonial Theory: This theory examines the ways in which colonialism has shaped global power structures and how the legacy of colonialism continues to shape society and culture today.
Disability Studies: This theory focuses on the social and cultural constructions of disability, and how ableism operates in society to exclude and marginalize disabled individuals.
Media Studies: This theory examines the ways in which media industries shape and reinforce dominant ideologies and how media representations impact societal attitudes and beliefs.
Environmental Critical Theory: This theory focuses on the intersections of human life and the environment. It examines how environmental degradation is both a symptom and a cause of social inequality, and proposes strategies for sustainable living.
Performance Studies: This theory examines the ways in which performance, both in the arts and in everyday life, reflects and reinforces societal beliefs and ideologies.
Psychoanalytic Theory: This theory focuses on the unconscious motivations and desires that shape our behavior and beliefs, and examines the ways in which these motivations and desires are shaped by societal norms and structures.
Quote: "it argues that social problems stem more from social structures and cultural assumptions rather than from individuals."
Quote: "With roots in sociology and literary criticism..."
Quote: "The Frankfurt School theoreticians Herbert Marcuse, Theodor Adorno, Walter Benjamin, Erich Fromm, and Max Horkheimer..."
Quote: "Critical theory finds applications in various fields of study, including psychoanalysis, sociology, history, communication theory, philosophy, and feminist theory."
Quote: "Critical Theory (capitalized) is a school of thought practiced by the Frankfurt School theoreticians [...] and on the other any philosophical approach that seeks to liberate people from all forms of oppression..."
Quote: "Philosophical approaches within this broader definition include feminism, critical race theory, post-structuralism, queer theory, and forms of postcolonialism."
Quote: "Horkheimer described a theory as critical insofar as it seeks 'to liberate human beings from the circumstances that enslave them'."
Quote: "Although a product of modernism, and although many of the progenitors of Critical Theory were skeptical of postmodernism, Critical Theory is one of the major components of both modern and postmodern thought..."
Quote: "In addition to its roots in the first-generation Frankfurt School, critical theory has also been influenced by György Lukács and Antonio Gramsci."
Quote: "Additionally, second-generation Frankfurt School scholars have been influential, notably Jürgen Habermas."
Quote: "In Habermas's work, critical theory transcended its theoretical roots in German idealism and progressed closer to American pragmatism."
Quote: "Concern for social 'base and superstructure' is one of the remaining Marxist philosophical concepts in much contemporary critical theory."