The SAGE Handbook of Frankfurt School Critical Theory

The Handbook of Frankfurt School Critical Theory is and will be essential for anyone who wants to approach, study in depth and orientate oneself in that which falls under the name of critical theory. The authors of this volumes, extending the basis of the foundation of critical theory to include thinkers such as Bloch, Benjamin, Lukács, Kracauer, Sohn-Rethel, and others, give us more of an image of a large bush than that of a tree whose roots are planted in the city of Frankfurt alone. In this way, critical theory is de-provincialized, meeting Bolívar Echeverría and Adolfo Sánchez Vázquez; and it branches out further in its encounter with contemporary social and political movements and theories, including feminism and gendered dynamics of social reproduction. Through the voices of these great volumes, critical theory acquires new vitality from its dialogue with other traditions and critical discourses of capitalist modernity, showing that it is capable of transforming itself based on the variety of contemporary contexts.

The SAGE Handbook of Frankfurt School Critical Theory is a superb collection of high-quality essays on a vast array of aspects of the theoretical programs and empirical research conducted at or in relation to the Institute of Social Research, founded in Frankfurt almost a century ago.  The authors of the essays include prominent proponents, careful students, and sophisticated critics of critical theory.  At a time when the uncompromising contributions to illuminating the contradictions and paradoxes of modern societies – by both the classics (including Horkheimer, Adorno, and Marcuse) and more recent representatives of this complex tradition – constitute a model for research that is determined to “make a difference,” the SAGE Handbook will be an indispensable and lasting resource scholars and researchers should – and will – return to frequently.

This handbook reminds us that authority and oppression must be fought not only through rhetoric and language dispositive, but through an integral social program, empirically and theoretically attentive to economic, psychological and sociocultural phenomena. 

The structure of the edition is another proof of the work’s excellency. Choosing simplicity, each volume but the second is divided into three parts. The articles that comprise these volumes are not only carefully selected, but as conceptually consistent and deep as the premises announced in the introduction to the first volume show.