Definitions of Critical Theory

Critical theory

Critical theory (social theory)
Main article: Critical theory (Frankfurt School)
The first meaning of the term critical theory was that defined by Max Horkheimer of the Frankfurt School of social science in his 1937 essay Traditional and Critical Theory : critical theory is social theory oriented toward critiquing and changing society as a whole, in contrast to traditional theory oriented only to understanding or explaining it. Horkheimer wanted to distinguish critical theory as a radical, emancipatory form of Marxian theory both from the model of science put forward by logical positivism and from what he and his colleagues perceived as the covert positivism and authoritarianism of orthodox Marxism and Communism. It is also central to this notion that critical social theory be directed at the totality of society in its historical specificity, i.e. in the way it had come to be configured at a specific point in time, and that it integrates all of the major social science theories that will help grasp the major dimensions of society, including especially economics, sociology, history, political science, anthropology, and psychology. Although this conception of critical theory originated with the Frankfurt School, it also prevails among some other recent social scientists, such as Pierre Bourdieu, Louis Althusser and arguably Michel Foucault and certain feminist theorists and social scientists.
This version of "critical" theory derives from Kant's (18th-century) and Marx's (19th century) use of the term "critique", as in Kant's Critique of Pure Reason and Marx's notion of his work Das Kapital (Capital) as "the critique of political economy". For Kant's transcendental idealism, "critique" means examining and establishing the limits of the validity of a faculty, type, or body of knowledge, especially through taking stock of the limitations imposed by the fundamental, irreducible concepts in use in that knowledge. His notion also already associated critique with the disestablishment of false, unprovable, or dogmatic philosophical, social, and political beliefs since for him the critique of reason involved the critique of dogmatic theological and metaphysical ideas and was intertwined with the enhancement of ethical autonomy and the Enlightenment critique of superstition and irrational authority. Marx explicitly developed this notion into the critique of ideology and linked it with the practice of social revolution, as in his famous 11th Thesis on Feuerbach, "Philosophers have only interpreted the world in certain ways; the point is to change it". [1]
This meaning of critical theory originated entirely within the social sciences, and there are works of critical social theory and critical social science that pay no attention and show no awareness of the literary/humanities version of critical theory.

More definitions

Present Bush makes understanding tribal sovereignty easy . . . uh, well . . .

Thank goodness Jesse Jackson can explain what he said !

Sneak peak: At a Journalists of Color conference in Washington, D.C., in 2004, Seattle Post-Intelligencer Editorial Page Editor Mark Trahant, a Shoshone-Bannock Indian, asked President Bush his views on what tribal sovereignty meant.

Question: What do you think tribal sovereignty means in the 21st century, and how do we resolve conflicts between tribes and the federal and the state governments?

President Bush: Tribal sovereignty means that; it's sovereign. You're a -- you've been given sovereignty, and you're viewed as a sovereign entity. And, therefore, the relationship between the federal government and tribes is one between sovereign entities.

Anti-oppressive Practice Approaches

· feminist social work
· radical social work
· structural social work
· Marxist social work
· anti-racist social work

• Intervention focus:
  Social structure
• Change achieved through:
  Consciousness raising and collective action
• Relationship between worker and client:
  Co-activist
• Participation and partnership:
  Worker and client work together
• Measure of change:
  New social order
• Focus on broader political environment:
  Macro-politics
• Process of intervention:
  Long-term and oriented towards massive social change
• Involvement of broader community in change: Yes, collective action

from http://alex.edfac.usyd.edu.au/socialwork_attachments/ibl1/IBL1%20lecture%20overheads%2018th%20April.doc

Anti-oppressive Principles (Clifford 1995):

° Analysis of social difference
° Linking of the personal and the political
° Analysis of power
° Analysis of the historical and geographical location
° Development of reflexivity/ mutual involvement

Link to A Critical Analysis Framework for use in determining if the theoretical underpinnings of social work practice methods and models are consistent with the anti-oppressive principles presented above.

Selected Critical Social Work Theorists and Writers

Jane Dalrymple--publications

Lena Dominelli-- biographical information and publications

Jan Fook--biographical information; research output

Karen Healy--publications

Steven Hick--books, publications and courses

Jim Ife--research and publications

Robert Mullaly--Challenging Oppression

Trevor Spratt--biographical information and publications

AIMS OF RADICAL SOCIAL WORK

--from the Barefoot Social Worker : the voice of radical social work in Britain

• To support social work that is informed by a class analysis.
• To support social work that strives to reduce poverty and inequality of income and wealth.
• To assert that social work aims to improve people's lives not only by helping individuals and families but also by striving for structural change.
• To challenge the culture of managerialism and develop radical social work theories which give social workers confidence in tackling social problems.
• To promote radical ideas by providing a forum for sharing experiences, discussing current events, clarifying views and developing awareness of social issues.
• To support radicals in front-line social work who struggle to maintain a radical perspective.

Exploring the managerialization of social work practice: "Modernising Social Work and the Ethics of Care" Gabrielle Meagher and Nigel Parton (University of Sydney/ University of Huddersfield), Social Work and Society, 2(1), 2004

Other recommended Reading on Radical Social Work

Anti-oppressive Social Work Electronic Resource Center
Designed to be of use to social work students, educators, and practitioners, the Center:

• Provides a general introduction to anti-oppressive social work
• Explores the key theoretical concepts underpinning anti-oppressive social work
• Discusses pedagogical issues related to teaching anti-oppressive social work
• Offers a bibliography of selected readings related to anti-oppressive social work
• Provides links to relevant resources and organizations
• Provides a forum for debate and discussion concerning anti-oppressive social work

Editor: Dr. Carolyn Campbell--Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia

This site has an excellent overview of approaches related to anti-oppressive social work practice . . . "The term 'anti-oppressive practice' is generally understood as an umbrella term that encompasses a variety of practice approaches that seek to challenge and change expressions of oppression and domination and to maximize the potential of social work to promote social justice." (click "practice" at the top right of the home page, then "approaches" on the left hand side of the linked page to get to this section)

Introductory Guide to Critical Theory

Written and designed by Dino Felluga

A useful web link with an alphabetical list of terms and concepts used in the numerous critical theories. Contains sections on Marxism, Postmodernism, Psychoanalysis, New Historicism, Narratology and Gender & Sex. Each section lists definitions for that specific critical theory; for example, under Marxism you can find definitions similar to this:

Commodification: The subordination of both private and public realms to the logic of capitalism. In this logic, such things as friendship, knowledge, women, etc. are understood only in terms of their monetary value. In this way, they are no longer treated as things with intrinsic worth but as commodities. (They are valued, that is, only extrinsically in terms of money.) By this logic, a factory worker can be reconceptualized not as a human being with specific needs that, as humans, we are obliged to provide but as a mere wage debit in a businessman's ledger.

Felluga, Dino. "Terms Used by Marxism." Introductory Guide to Critical Theory. Last updated November 28, 2003. Purdue U. Accessed February 25, 2006.

Here is an example of a Narratology definition:

Narration: Narration refers to the way that a story is told, and so belongs to the level of discourse (although in first-person narration it may be that the narrator also plays a role in the development of the story itself). The different kinds of narration are categorized by each one's primary grammatical stance: either 1) the narrator speaks from within the story and, so, uses "I" to refer to him- or herself (see first-person narration); in other words, the narrator is a character of some sort in the story itself, even if he is only a passive observer; or 2) the narrator speaks from outside the story and never employs the "I" (see third-person narration).
Felluga, Dino. "Terms Used by Narratology and Film Theory." Introductory Guide to Critical Theory. Last updated November 28, 2003. Purdue U. Accessed February 25, 2006.

Link to a bibliography of indigenous postcolonial scholarship . . .

www.usask.ca/education/postcolonial/biblio.htm

Is it "critical" . . . or is it "progressive" . . . or is it "radical" social work practice?

I would argue that critical/progressive/radical practice is social work in its original and most fundamental expression. Think about the following themes that underlie the modern critical/progressive/radical tradition in social work:

• conceptualizing personal struggles as connected to the social structures within which they are occurring (especially structures of oppression and domination)
• consideration and understanding of the social control functions of social work practice
• naming and voicing of oppression as part of a comprehensive and on-going social critique
• working actively toward personal and collective empowerment and tthe ransformation of society

Are these not also the concepts through which Jane Addams, Hull House and other early social work pioneers sought to change the lives and situations of immigrants, individuals living in poverty and others suffering within our society?

Research in Postcolonial Studies is growing because postcolonial critique allows for a wide-ranging investigation into power relations in various contexts. The formation of empire, the impact of colonization on postcolonial history, economy, science, and culture, the cultural productions of colonized societies, feminism and postcolonialism, agency for marginalized people, and the state of the postcolony in contemporary economic and cultural contexts are some broad topics in the field.

. . . read more on Postcolonial Theory

"The proliferation of theories also produced a tendency to use the term "Theory" (with a capital T) to describe the wealth of conflicting critical theories. In this sense, Theory replaces philosophy as the most abstract and general model of theoretical discourse. Theory has emerged as an autonomous enterprise in many academic disciplines, giving rise to a tendency to do work in Theory, which engages various critical theories, problems, and concepts, or provides diagnosis of the nature and function of theory itself in the academic disciplines."

---Douglas Kellner, "Critical Theory" (down load the full text version of this article at: www.gseis.ucla.edu/faculty/kellner/essays/criticaltheory.pdf)

Douglas Kellner, Professor George F. Kneller Philosophy of Education Chair, Graduate School of Education, UCLA:

"The past decades have witnessed a proliferation of critical theory to the extent that the very concept is a contested terrain. At present, conflicting models of critical theory are utilized by different individuals and groups in various fields of inquiry in different parts of the world.
. . . Critical theory is thus a multidimensional term that continues to take on differing connotations and uses and is embedded in many different disciplines and debates in the contemporary moment."


Link to Dr. Kellner's website and review additional writings on Critical Theory.

Illuminations

Illuminations: The Critical Theory Website is a WWW research resource for those interested in the Critical Theory project. Firmly based in Frankfurt School thought, this site maintains a collection of articles, excerpts, and chapters from many contemporary writers of and about Critical Theory.

Click on the above text for a link to the Illuminations site!