Schweppenhäuser and Haug define critical theory as
emancipatory social philosophy. It tries to unite in one movement of thought the analysis and critique of forms of practice as well as types of reason and rationality of bourgeois-capitalist societies since the middle of the 19th century until today. Its starting point is Marx’s theory of the law of value as the foundation of commodity-producing societies that is derived from the analysis of the value-form. This theory is at the same time a critique of the political economy, i.e. demonstration of the capability and limit of this science for the explanation of the value-form with its social and ideological consequences (Schweppenhäuser and Haug 2012, 197).
The two authors stress the status of Critical Theory as critical philosophy and critical economics. They understand it as a broad approach that is grounded in Marx’s thought and works. They, however, also acknowledge that the Frankfurt School introduced the term and therefore draw a distinction between critical theory as the more general approach and Critical Theory as the Frankfurt School-approach.
1.1.3. Dimensions of Critical Theory
An approach that neither lists approaches nor identifies critical theory only with persons associated with the Frankfurt School is to identify dimensions of critical theory at the content level. In scholarly writings, critical theory in general is often designated in lower-case letters, whereas the Frankfurt School is labelled as ‘Critical Theory’. I do not make such a strict separation because I think the overall approach of the Frankfurt School is quite generalised.
We can identify five dimensions of a critical theory of society:
- Critical ethics.
- Critique of domination, exploitation and alienation.
- Dialectical reason.
- Ideology critique.
- Struggles and political praxis.
Both Marx and Frankfurt School authors stress all of these dimensions. The Frankfurt School should, in my view, not be read as a particularistic approach, but as a formulation of general foundations of Marxist philosophy and Marxist cultural theory.
For grounding an understanding of critical theory that specifies dimensions of the critique of society, some foundational texts of the Frankfurt School are helpful. Marcuse’s (1988/1968, 134–158) essay Philosophy and Critical Theory,
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Critical Theory of Communication