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Futures of Critical Theoryreviewed by Gary Shank & Orlando Villella - 2004 ![]() Author(s): Michael Peters, Mark Olssen & Colin Lankshear (Editors) Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham ISBN: 074252860X, Pages: 304, Year: 2003 Search for book at Amazon.com The roadmap for this collection is laid out by the editors on
page 16: In this volume we explore the possibility and usefulness of
enlarging the conventional use of the term ‘critical
theory.’ We encompass what we consider to be work that
is broadly critical in both a reflective and a reflexive manner
belonging to tradition of Western thought starting with Descartes
and Kant – rather than confining our scope to the founders of
the Frankfurt school. If you find this thesis clear and intriguing then you will find
this book to be interesting and useful. For the rest of us,
an introduction or refresher would be most helpful prior to wading
into the various articles in this work. For our tastes,
Geuss’s little book (Geuss, 1981) is still one of the
clearest and most accessible introductions to Habermas and the
thought of the Frankfurt school in general, and Wink (2000) is
geared toward the educational professional who is a neophyte in all
matters critical. In other words, Futures of Critical
Theory is not a work for the uninitiated. Of course critical theory is too important a system of ideas to
be ignored. But is it a movement whose time has run its
course? The cartoon version of critical theory says its
foundations were laid by Hegel and others in the 18th century,
refined by Marx and others at the end of the 19th century, and
systematized by the Frankfurt school in mid 20th century. The
key insight of the Frankfurt school is that ideologies are at the
heart of all human actions and social systems. More often
than not, however, these ideologies are unexamined and operate in
an “unconscious” manner. The key to critical
theory is the exposure of these ideological programs by raising
them into conscious awareness, and then deciding if these
ideological underpinnings really benefit those who hold them and
perpetuate them. Overarching critical perspectives, such as
Marxist theory, Freudian psychoanalysis, and feminist thought are
often used as the “tools” for uncovering and
interpreting these various ideological perspectives. If these
ideologies are unhealthy and delusional, as they often are, then
they need to be replaced. So critical theory is not just about
finding things; it is focused on fixing things as well. Freire
(1968/1983) is probably the best-known example of a critical
theorist as a practical worker in education. With its focus on the role of individual consciousness and the
use of overarching perspectives and theories, the Frankfurt school
stands among those recent modernist philosophical traditions that
are essentialist and humanistic in nature. This puts critical
theory into direct contrast with one of the most important
intellectual movements of the late 20th century –
postmodernism in general, and “French theory” in
particular. Returning to the quote on page 16, we can now see
that most of the enlarging and expanding of critical theory is
targeted toward the work of theorists who have not necessarily
stood in opposition to the Frankfurt school, but who have done
their own work following different agendas. The biggest disappointment of this collection is the fact that
the introductory chapter (purportedly written as a collaboration of
all three editors but reading as a patchwork of some of their
separate efforts) does not do a better job in laying out a clearer
agenda for readers who are not well conversant in either critical
theory or French thought of the late 20th century. In a way,
however, all this says is that this book is meant for readers who
can enter the discussion as they find it. For these more
sophisticated readers, this book provides a wealth of ideas.
As one might expect from a postmodern effort, its foci are all
over the place. The editors point out that there are three distinct
types of articles included. The first set of articles deals
with creating an historical understanding of major thinkers and how
their ideas relate to the tasks that have been of traditional and
current interest to critical theorists. The most important
historical figure is, of course, Nietzsche, and his ideas regarding
the nature of the self and his turn from the sort of modernism that
grounds the Frankfurt school are discussed in separate articles.
Other key historical thinkers who are discussed include
Heidegger, Wittgenstein, and Levinas. Wittgenstein is
examined in relation to both Nietzsche and Foucault, while
Levinas’s ethical concerns are examined. Heidegger is a
critical postmodern icon of anti-essentialism, and these ideas are
juxtaposed to recent critical concerns dealing with the changing
roles and natures of technology in society. While these
applications of the ideas of these 20th century giants are
fascinating, readers who are not as familiar with the works of
these philosophers get very little in the way of basic grounding.
As before, these articles are not for the beginner. It
is also interesting that the editors did not seek out an historical
thinker for the anti-humanist and structuralist material that was
such an important point of departure for poststructural thought.
A discussion of Roland Barthes, for example, and his
semiological take on popular culture (e.g., Barthes, 1957) would
not have been out of place, for instance. The second set of articles deals with thinkers who are less
historical and more contemporary in their use. Foucault’s
stance on critique is summarized in a very useful chapter.
Derrida and Deleuze are also examined as critical theorists,
with Lyotard rounding off the cast of foundational thinkers.
More focused and more specific treatments are also given to
the works of Bourdieu, Irigiray, Giddens, Said, Guattari, and
Zizek. In our opinion, these articles are best read as
independent contributions. There is a general sense that they
address, as a body of work, some of the applications of the
theorists in question from a critical theoretical perspective.
There is no effort, though, by the authors or the editors to
synthesize these works into a broader and more expansive
understanding of how these all somehow fit together to form a
branch of critical theory that straddles the concerns of the
Frankfurt school and the concerns of the Continental theorists as
well. Perhaps that is a work that needs to be written after
exploratory works such as this book has been tackled.
The final set of articles constitutes the closest attempt to
forge a more comprehensive picture of an alternative critical
theory. Of particular interest is Cheah’s discussion of
sexuality in relation to Irigiray, Braidiotti’s insightful
analysis of cyberfeminism, and two different takes on globalization
and anti-globalization by Scott and Peters. These and other topics
already covered, including modernity, notions of the self, and
technology, point to the aptness of a new and expanded type of
critical theory. In summary, here is the key issue at play: critical
theory, as understood by the Frankfurt school, is essentialist,
humanist, structuralist, and modernist at heart.
“French thought” is anti-essentialist,
anti-humanist, poststructural, and postmodern at heart. Does
it make sense to try to bring these two critical threads together
under the general notion of “critical theory” or should
they be left in some sort of leftist detente? This collection
of essays pursues the former path, often with interesting if uneven
results. For the present, we believe that the editors have a point
that the immediate future of critical theory may lay in a
resolution between France and Frankfurt. What is the future
of this future, however? Most likely it will exhibit an
evolving dialogue between other voices. In this future we see
this polyvocality challenging dominant power structures, much as
Freire did in his own way, to expand the discourse in such areas as
queer theory, new forms of feminism, and evolving stages and
franchising of capitalism and democracy. It will remain for
others either to build upon these efforts or let the project fade
away. But the present collection itself manages to navigate
the tensions between broad and specific perspectives quite well,
and for that reason alone it is worth the attention of those who
are prepared to read it and follow its varying paths and threads.
References Barthes, R. (1957). Mythologies. NY:
Hill and Wang. Freire, P. (1968/1983). Pedagogy of the
oppressed. NY: Continuum. Geuss, R. (1981). The idea of a critical theory:
Habermas and the Frankfurt school. Cambridge, UK:
Cambridge University Press. Wink, J. (2000). Critical pedagogy: notes from the real
world (Second Edition). NY: Addison Wesley
Longman.
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