Critical theory, immanent critique and neo-liberalism. Reply to critique raised in Copenhagen

Abstract

Being critical does not come easy, not even within Critical Theory. In this article I respond to criticism of my book from 2019, Capitalism, Alienation and Critique, arguing that contemporary Critical Theory has something to learn from the founding fathers. Firstly, for Adorno immanent critique has metaphysical implications beyond Honneth’s critique of bourgeois society as inconsistent in terms of its professed ideals. Secondly, immanent critique is not the same as ideology critique, and when it comes to Horkheimer and Habermas, they conducted the latter rather than the former. Thirdly, even though today nature must be our concern, answers are to be found in politics and metaphysics rather than science. Finally, critique of neoliberalism should be conducted as critique of political economy, that is, ideology critique, rather than sociological descriptions of the empirical details of globalized capitalism. Denaturalizing economics is a condition for economic democracy.

State asset management paradigm in the quasi-public sector and environmental sustainability: Insights from the Republic of Kazakhstan

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Social Media, News Media, and the Democratic Deficit. Can the Blockchain Make a Difference?

“…The task at hand is to deconstruct the landscape in real time and offer ways of reversing democratic backsliding without compromising these basic democratic principles before democracy itself fades into obscurity. Many of these concerns have been facilitated by capitalism's palpable drawbacks (Sørensen 2022) and staunch reluctance to reform itself, thus creating a handful of unconstrained, lightly regulated technology conglomerates (see Fuchs 2009;Srnicek 2017;Flew 2021a). Indeed, critical political economists have been warning of the consequences of an information and communication system too reliant on advertising, consolidation, deregulation and free-market policies (Garnham 1990;Golding and Murdock 1997;Mosco 2009;Winseck and Jin 2012;Hardy 2014;Fuchs 2021).…”