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Critical Theory in Critical Times

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World-renowned specialists in contemporary critical theory address the recent crises and transformations of the global political and economic order
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  • 04 April 2017
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We live in critical times. We face a global crisis in economics and finance, a global ecological crisis, and a constant barrage of international disputes. Perhaps most dishearteningly, there seems to be little faith in our ability to address such difficult problems. However, there is also a more positive sense in which these are critical times. The world's current state of flux gives us a unique window of opportunity for shaping a new international order that will allow us to cope with current and future global crises.

In Critical Theory in Critical Times, eleven of the most distinguished critical theorists offer new perspectives on recent crises and transformations of the global political and economic order. Essays from Jürgen Habermas, Seyla Benhabib, Cristina Lafont, Rainer Forst, Wendy Brown, Christoph Menke, Nancy Fraser, Rahel Jaeggi, Amy Allen, Penelope Deutscher, and Charles Mills address pressing issues including international human rights and democratic sovereignty, global neoliberalism, novel approaches to the critique of capitalism, critical theory's Eurocentric heritage, and new directions offered by critical race theory and postcolonial studies. Sharpening the conceptual tools of critical theory, the contributors to Critical Theory in Critical Times reveal new ways of expanding the diverse traditions of the Frankfurt School in response to some of the most urgent and important challenges of our times.

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Price: $32.00
Pages: 320
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Imprint: Columbia University Press
Series: New Directions in Critical Theory
Publication Date: 04 April 2017
Trim Size: 9.00 X 6.00 in
ISBN: 9780231181518
Format: Paperback
BISACs:

PHILOSOPHY / Movements / Critical Theory, PHILOSOPHY / Political, POLITICAL SCIENCE / History & Theory, LAW / Jurisprudence

Critical Theory in Critical Times tackles a crucial topic: the relevance of German and French critical theory to 21st-century politics and emancipatory projects. This excellent collection of essays shows that we have to rethink the core concepts and scope of critical theory in light of contemporary challenges to democracy, human rights, and socioeconomic justice posed by neoliberal forms of globalization and by critical theory's own insufficient attention to colonialism and postcolonialism. By reflexively reassessing and revising critical theoretical approaches, this volume demonstrates the continued relevance of critical theory today and is a must-read for anyone interested in progressive social change.

Penelope Deutscher is Joan and Sarepta Harrison Professor of Philosophy at Northwestern University. She is the author or editor of a number of books, including Foucault/Derrida Fifty Years Later (2016) and Foucault's Futures: A Critique of Reproductive Reason (2017), both from Columbia University Press.

Cristina Lafont is professor of philosophy at Northwestern University. She is the author of The Linguistic Turn in Hermeneutic Philosophy (1999), Heidegger, Language, and World-Disclosure (2000), and Global Governance and Human Rights (2012), and coeditor of The Habermas Handbook.

Acknowledgments
Introduction: Critical Theory in Critical Times
Part I. The Future of Democracy
1. An Exploration of the Meaning of Transnationalization of Democracy, Using the Example of the European Union, by Jürgen Habermas
Part II. Human Rights and Sovereignty
2. Democratic Sovereignty and Transnational Law: On Legal Utopianism and Democratic Skepticism, by Seyla Benhabib
3. Human Rights, Sovereignty, and the Responsibility to Protect, by Cristina Lafont
4. A Critical Theory of Human Rights—Some Groundwork, by Rainer Forst
Part III. Political Rights in Neoliberal Times
5. Neoliberalism and the Economization of Rights, by Wendy Brown
6. Law and Domination, by Christoph Menke
Part IV. Criticizing Capitalism
7. Behind Marx's Hidden Abode: For an Expanded Conception of Capitalism, by Nancy Fraser
8. A Wide Concept of Economy: Economy as a Social Practice and the Critique of Capitalism, by Rahel Jaeggi
Part V. The End of Progress in Postcolonial Times
9. Adorno, Foucault, and the End of Progress: Critical Theory in Postcolonial Times, by Amy Allen
10. "Post-Foucault": The Critical Time of the Present, by Penelope Deutscher
11. Criticizing Critical Theory, by Charles W. Mills
Bibliography
About the Contributors
Index