International Encyclopedia of Communication Online

Extract

The phrase “critical theory” was first promoted by the German philosopher and sociologist, Max Horkheimer, in a 1937 essay, “Critical and traditional theory.” An astute academic entrepreneur, he devised it to promote the approach to studying society and culture that he and his colleagues had been developing at the Institute for Social Research in Frankfurt, which he had headed since 1930, and which became an important influence on international media and communication research ( Horkheimer 1972 ). The later labeling of the group as the Frankfurt School with its strong connotations of a single position misrepresents both the scope and diversity of the members' interests. The institute was a path-breaking interdisciplinary center that cut across the boundaries dividing philosophy from empirical inquiry and the humanities from the social sciences. It attracted scholars from a wide range of intellectual and academic backgrounds, including musicology (Theodor Adorno); political economy (Friedrich Pollock; →  Political Economy of the Media ); literary theory (Leo Löwenthal); political philosophy (Herbert Marcuse); and psychoanalysis (Erich Fromm). This heterogeneity generated novel theoretical combinations, but also disputes and disagreements – self-critical debate as a basis of social critique. The Frankfurt group's work was grounded from the outset in the Enlightenment's core philosophical ... log in or subscribe to read full text