Theory in Weberian Marxism: Patterns of Critical Social Theory in Lukács and Habermas

For Weberian Marxists, the social theories of Max Weber and Karl Marx are complementary contributions to the analysis of modern capitalist society. Combining Weber's theory of rationalization with Marx's critique of commodity fetishism to develop his own critique of reification, Georg Lukács contended that the combination of Marx's and Weber's social theories is essential to envisioning socially transformative modes of praxis in advanced capitalist society. By comparing Lukács's theory of reification with Habermas's theory of communicative action as two theories in the tradition of Weberian Marxism, I show how the prevailing mode of "doing theory" has shifted from Marx's critique of economic determinism to Weber's idea of the inner logic of social value spheres. Today, Weberian Marxism can make an important contribution to theoretical sociology by reconstituting itself as a framework for critically examining prevailing societal definitions of the rationalization imperatives specific to purposive-rational social value spheres (the economy, the administrative state, etc.). In a second step, Weberian Marxists would explore how these value spheres relate to each other and to value spheres that are open to the type of communicative rationalization characteristic of the lifeworld level of social organization.     

Habermas and Social Movement Theory

This article outlines Habermas' social movement–related ideas and reviews the critical reception of them from within critical theory and social movement studies more widely. Criticism of Habermas' explanation of the new social movements has been wide-ranging and persuasive. There have however been some contemporary critical engagements with Habermas' ideas within social movement studies. The direction they take suggests (1) the concept of 'colonisation' finds political relevance in the twenty-first century context of global capitalism and resistance to neo-liberal policies; (2) that recent engagements with Habermas loosely unite in a concern with the 'applied turn' in critical theory; and (3) there is some potential for aspects of Habermas' theory to be used in ways that make him capable of engaging in dialogue with the current concerns of social movement theory.     

Sociological Theory and the Relativistic Paradigm*

Sociological theory is compared to the relativist paradigm which is found in a variety of contemporary intellectual movements: microphysics, drama, theology, art, music and psychology. The principal elements in the relativist paradigm are: (1) complementarity; (2) indeterminacy: (3) relativity. In contrast to this thought pattern, the apparent pluralism represented in the strict, hermeneutical, and critical schools of sociological theory is shown to be questionable. Extant sociological theory is relatively unified at the epistemic level.     

Habermas,Mead, and Rationality

This paper takes the position that symbolic interaction can become more relevant to the social issues of modernity and postmodernity by overcoming its traditional tendencies to be apolitical and to focus predominantly on micro aspects of social relations. It considers a serious reading of Habermas' Theory of Communicative Action as a contribution to this effort. Specifically it sees Habermas' reconstruction of the conception of the individual actor involved in communicating through significant symbols into one consistent with speech act theory and the concepts of speaker and listener as constructive and helpful. The paper also examines Mead's behav-ioristic theory of attitudes, types of attitudes and taking the attitude of the other(s), and relates it to his logical formulation of rational universals. It suggests that Mead's optimistic image of society and his position on rationality are no longer appropriate for discussing social issues in a global society with multiple rationalities. It sees possibilities for reformulation in Habermas' theory because, like Mead's theory, it construes rationality in communicative terms.     

Critical Theory, Information Society and Surveillance Technologies

This article offers an account of information and communication technologies (ICTs) that draws upon the tradition of critical theory, arguing that an application of the latter to the former can be categorized as a theory of 'cyber criticalism'. Its aim is not to provide an exhaustive theoretical analysis or any kind of literature review, but to suggest that such a theorization is possible because cyber criticalism (1) offers an account of social power and (2) suggests how and why alternatives to existing social practices and institutions can be formed. The first section relates the debate about information society to that concerning globalization and argues that two main theories square off against each other in the race to explain that society: one which, in Castells's terminology, emphasizes the power of flows and the other which emphasizes the flows of power. If the former is inadequate in crucial respects then the way is clear for critical theorists to explore the latter. Cyber criticalism is then sketched in outline and the article proceeds to identify information systems, the flows of power, as potential sites of resistance. The final section focuses upon biometrics and argues that the way forward for cyber critical theorists lies in exploiting the cultural insecurities of informatic capitalism. Ultimately, then, cyber criticalism is critical theory updated for the information age. Unlike those such as Castells it identifies flows of power and the intensification of those flows around the dominant nodes of the informational net. It insists that information systems constitute potential sites of resistance. Nevertheless, acts of resistance are still relatively marginal and fragmented events due to they way in which social problems are pathologized and criminalized.     

Critical Theory and the Hermeneutical Circle*

This paper examines the debate between Gadamer and Habermas concerning the relationship between hermeneutics and critical theory. Formulating the hermeneutical circle in terms of relationship between understanding and interpretation, this paper examines three positions on the circle held by positivism, critical theory and hermeneutics, respectively. A commitment to method and procedure on the part of Habermas is offered as the basis for critical theory's limited acceptance of the hermeneutical circle. This is shown through an analysis of Knowledge and Human Interests as indicative of Habermas's implicit objectivism and his methodical, as opposed to hermeneutical, model of reasoning for social inquiry. The best definition for hermeneutics is: to let what is alienated by the character of the written word or by the character of being distantiated by cultural or historical distances speak again. This is hermeneutics: to let what seems to be far and alienated speak again (Gadamer, 1980a:83).     

Communication,Modernity, and Democracy in Habermas and Dewey

The political culture of the Federal Republic [of Germany] would be worse today if it had not adopted impulses from American political culture during the first postwar decades. The Federal Republic opened itself for the first time to the West without reservations: we adopted the political theory of the Enlightenment, we grasped the pluralism which, first carried by religious sects, molded the political mentality, and we became acquainted with the radical democratic spirit of the American pragmatism of Peirce, Mead, and Dewey. (Jiirgen Habermas 1985a, p. 93)     

The Origin,Development, and Contemporary Status of Critical Theory*

This paper describes the nature of critical theory, its historical development, its connections to sociology and Marxism, and the central debates over its core ideas.     

Critical Theory and Critical Sociology: The Second Synthesis*

The syntheses of consensus and conflict theory which were developed during the sixties served as a healthy corrective for traditional functional theory but did not exhaust theoretical debate. The identification of such syntheses with empirico-analytic tradition (and dominant control systems) calls forth a second (critical) synthesis which is not complementary, but competing. Despite the fact that both are parallel in many respects, the two theoretical syntheses are differentiated on a number of levels: value assumptions, emphases, epistemology and the implications each possesses regarding the nature of sociological activity. Conflicting interpretations drawn from the two competing paradigms promise to define the fundamental issues within sociological theory during the seventies.     

The Authority of the Holy Revisited: Habermas, Religion, and Emancipatory Possibilities

This article argues that Jürgen Habermas's view of religion as anathema to rational critical discourse reflects his misunderstanding that religion comprises a monolithic and immutable body of dogma that is closed to reason. Illustrative data from Catholic history and theology and empirical data gathered from contemporary American Catholics are used to show the weaknesses in Habermas's negation of the possibility of a self-critical religious discourse. Specifically, I highlight the doctrinal differentiation within Catholicism, its longstanding theological emphasis on the coupling of faith and reason, institutional reflexivity, and the doctrinally reflexive reasoning that contemporary Catholics use in negotiating what might appear as "contradictory" identities (e.g., being gay or lesbian and Catholic). Although the data presented take issue with Habermas's disavowal of religion, the article shows that the practical relevance of doctrinal reasoning at both the institutional and the individual level vindicate Habermas's faith in the emancipatory potential of reasoned argumentation to advance participative equality.     

Habermas and green political thought

Conclusion My principal ecocentric objection to Habermas's social and political theory has been that it is thoroughly human-centered in insisting that the emancipation of human relations need not require or depend upon the emancipation of nature. Although Habermas has moved beyond the pessimism and utopianism of the first generation of Critical Theorists by providing the conceptual foundations of the practical and emancipatory cognitive interests, he has, as Whitebook points out, also markedly altered the spirit of their project. Yet it is precisely the spirit of the early Frankfurt school theorists, namely, its critique of the dominant imperialist orientation toward the world (rather than its critique of a simplistically conceived idea of science) and its desire for the liberation of nature, that is most relevant to - and provides the most enduring Western Marxist link with - the ecocentric perspective of the radical Greens.

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Towards a Critical Global Race Theory

The meanings attached to “race” across the globe are myriad, particularly as anti‐Islamic discourse once again links race and religion. Yet scholars lack a common terminology to discuss this phenomenon. This article hopes to expand critical race theory and scholarship across national lines. This critical examination of recent race‐related scholarship provides scholars with empirical suggestions to uncover and document the different processes, mechanisms, trajectories and outcomes of potentially racialized practices that essentialize, dehumanize, “other,” and oppress minority groups while imbuing privileged groups with power and resources in nations across the globe. Ten empirical indicators will allow international researchers to assess the particular situation of different groups in different nations to determine whether, and the extent to which, they are subject to racialization. Specifically, this paper calls for a unified terminology that can accurately account for and address race when and where it occurs and a global broadening of a critical comparative dialogue of racial practices.     

Family Financial Socialization: Theory and Critical Review

Financial literacy research of the past 40 years (1970–2010) has largely ignored the reasons for sociodemographic differences in financial outcomes. The primary purpose of this paper is to initiate a theoretical discussion regarding family financial socialization—what it is; why it is important; and how its tenets could help advance understanding of individual differences in financial literacy. To this end, we propose a conceptual model that integrates family socialization theory and recent trends in financial literacy research. The study concludes with an interdisciplinary critical review of 100 articles which provide illustrations, highlight gaps, and present opportunities for further research with many practical guidelines for advancing deeper understanding of financial literacy from a socialization perspective.     

Sociology,the public sphere,and modern government: a challenge to the dominance of Habermas

There is an unfortunate tendency within some branches of sociology – particularly those usually called ‘critical’, that is, those associated with ‘critical social theory’– to treat with disdain the understanding of the public sphere that many modern governments use daily in making and implementing public policy. The majority of sociologists in those branches seem to prefer, as part and parcel of their normative commitments, Jürgen Habermas's Kantian understanding of the public sphere, which focuses primarily on reason and morality and insists that these two forces are of a higher order than politics and law. This paper offers a set of criticisms of the Habermas–Kant understanding, arguing that its focus on reason and morality, were it to become more widespread, would steer sociology into public policy irrelevance. The paper goes on to describe a very different understanding of the public sphere, a politico‐legal or civil‐peace understanding which operates as the public policy focus of those governments that have relegated questions of salvation (whether religious or ideological) to the private sphere. This understanding emerged from early modern attempts to carve out a domain of relative freedom and security against the deadly violence of religious disputation sweeping across Europe. The paper readily acknowledges that some ‘non‐critical’ branches of sociology already employ a version of this understanding.