Topic
Critical theory
About: Critical theory is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 5372 publications have been published within this topic receiving 164765 citations.
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss the relevance of critical theory for management education and highlight the main features of critical theories: social construction, power and ideology, totality, and praxis.
Abstract: In this article, the authors discuss the relevance of critical theory for management education. They begin by distinguishing critical theory from critical thinking and then highlight the main features of critical theory: social construction, power and ideology, totality, and praxis. The article then introduces the remaining articles that constitute the special segment on critical theory and management education.
78 citations
TL;DR: This paper used the theory of communicative action to inspect current difficulties in social work practice and argue that communicative methods provide insights, criticisms and practical suggestions for social work, as well as theoretical support for certain practice initiatives.
Abstract: SUMMARY This paper uses Habermas' theory of communicative action to inspect current difficulties in social work practice. Habermas' categories aie deployed to inspect the nature of professional care, recent increases in bureaucracy and the quality of current social policy. Practical implications are explored in the areas of need assessment, psychiatric support and child protection procedures. The paper argues that communicative methods provide insights, criticisms and practical suggestions for social work, as well as theoretical support for certain practice initiatives. Social work is caught between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand, it must cope with the material problem of increasing need and decreasing resources, while on the other, its attempted solutions are being redirected by social policy initiatives emanating from a government unsympathetic to its basic aims. The result is all too obvious to front line workers. While the material problem causes tremendous occupational stress, the solutions on offer amount to an unending gruel of bureaucracy, modern management jargon, and repeated demands for increased efficiency. Over the last decade, a great deal of interest has been aroused in various areas of social science by Jurgen Habermas' Critical Theory (White, 1988; Rasmussen, 1990; Ruane and Todd, 1988). Habermas' work provides a series of conceptual tools and restates the importance of a theoretical base for social work practice (Clark and Asquith, 1985). This paper argues that social work might derive significant gains from employing his conceptual scheme. Such gains are partly perceptual, in that they allow us to see more clearly why and how social work is
78 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a critical theory program for political organization, linking social theory, epistemology, and institutions, is presented, and a comparison of the capabilities of the practices and institutions inspired by the two programs adds further weight to critical theory's claims.
Abstract: Critical theory faces frequent charges of excessive abstraction, aridity, and political irrelevance. This paper seeks to counter such claims by developing a critical theory program for political organization, linking social theory, epistemology, and institutions. The elements demanded of such a program are identified through reference to the moves successfully accomplished in similar pursuit by critical theory's more established and accepted competitor, Popperian critical rationalism. A comparison of the capabilities of the practices and institutions inspired by the two programs adds further weight to critical theory's claims.
77 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the relation between theory and empirical data in sociology and social policy is explored through a critique of Ulrich Beck's influential book, Risk Society, and the conclusion reflects on the popularity of the genre in which Beck is working and questions the consistent glumness of its attitude to contemporary societies.
Abstract: The relation between theory and empirical data in sociology and social policy is explored through a critique of Ulrich Beck's influential book, Risk Society. Consideration is given to the extent to which a book that purports to describe contemporary societies in general is actually rooted in the unique circumstances of postwar Germany. The various arguments of Risk Society are reviewed and tested against relevant empirical reports from England. Many of the historical and contemporary generalizations made by Beck are shown to be questionable. The conclusion reflects on the popularity of the genre in which Beck is working and questions the consistent glumness of its attitude to contemporary societies—whether those of the 1890s or the 1990s. The new millennium might be a time for a new spirit and the rejection of the nostalgia and conservatism of humanities-oriented scholarship.
77 citations
TL;DR: A critical review of recent research and debate which has sought to explain the changing role of news journalism in political socialization, contrasting social psychological perspectives with those of cultural studies and critical theory is presented in this article.
Abstract: The use of news media has steadily declined in recent years, particularly among young people. This article offers a critical review of recent research and debate which has sought to explain the changing role of news journalism in political socialization, contrasting social‐psychological perspectives with those of cultural studies and critical theory. It evaluates calls for popular alternatives to conventional forms of news, and for an expanded or postmodern conception of citizenship and the public sphere. The article concludes that while there is a need to rethink fundamental assumptions in this way, more “traditional” concerns with access, representation and political education are of continuing relevance.
76 citations