Critical theory

About: Critical theory is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 5372 publications have been published within this topic receiving 164765 citations.

Latcrit Educational Leadership and Advocacy: Struggling Over Whiteness as Property in Texas School Finance

Abstract: In this article, the author seeks to re-imagine the political and policy roles of educational leaders of color, offering an alternative method for educational leadership, advocacy, and policy analysis. The author uses critical race theory (CRT) and Latina/o critical (LatCrit) theory to problematize the way politically-active Mexican American educational leaders used personal and professional experiences to conceptualize racism and organize politically in the context of the debate over school finance equity in Texas. The findings suggest that a prevalent negation of critical raced leadership, analysis, and advocacy among the participants disadvantages Latina/o communities and de-legitimizes Latina/o political voices. The author envisions an alternative educational leadership framework centered on LatCrit theory's call for contextualized, historical, and critical analysis.

The Future of Social Theory

Abstract: The basic concept of society has come under attack - political acts, critical theory, new media and even history itself have undermined what we think of as the social. The Future of Social Theory brings together new interviews with the world's leading social theorists on what society means today: Zygmunt Bauman, John Urry, Saska Sassen, Bruno Latour, Scott Lash, Nikolas Rose, Judith Butler and Francoise Verges. The topics covered include: liquid modernization and the individualization of the society; the shift towards global forms of chaos and complexity; the displacement of the social into global city networks; the shift away from a theory of the social to a theory of space; the transformation of society with the rise of new technology; the continuing influence of historical forms of political power; society as a gendered idea; and society as a product of Empire.

A Theoretical Review of Management and Information Systems Using a Critical Communications Theory

Abstract: This paper reflects on the managerialistic orthodoxy of knowledge management in order to show that a critical communications theory is required for addressing real political and ethical shortcomings. This produces an alternative methodological perspective through an intentional synthesis of established methodological views. The paper's allies in this critical quest include Jurgen Habermas, Werner Ulrich, Stanley Deetz, Geoffrey Vickers, Peter Checkland and their mentors. Information systems and knowledge systems architects and engineers and their manager clients conveniently ignore fundamental issues, including politics, power, knowledge and communication. Yet, today the more substantive issues are not technical but ethical. In raising questions about the rhetoric of knowledge management reflections on the instrumentality of much of what is said and done about management and information systems are outlined. The departure point is critical scepticism. This is motivated by concerns for the ethical status of the commercially valuable outcome of (at least) two conjoined simplistic and fundamentally dominatory conventional wisdoms. These stem from two fields that are managerialistically biased and which share a common basis in a false rationality.

The Philosophy Of Praxis: Marx, Lukács And The Frankfurt School

Abstract: The early Marx called for the "realization of philosophy" through revolution Revolution thus became a critical concept for Marxism, a view elaborated in the later praxis perspectives of Lukacs and the Frankfurt School These thinkers argue that fundamental philosophical problems are, in reality, social problems abstractly conceived Originally published as Lukacs, Marx and the Sources of Critical Theory, The Philosophy of Praxis traces the evolution of this argument in the writings of Marx, Lukacs, Adorno and Marcuse This reinterpretation of the philosophy of praxis shows its continuing relevance to contemporary discussions in Marxist political theory, continental philosophy and science and technology studies

Critical Theory and its Contribution to Critical Management Studies

Abstract: The aim of this chapter is to provide an outline of the development and basic ideas of critical theory (CT), one of the most prominent philosophical foundations of critical management studies (CMS). CT has perhaps had even more influence on the development of CMS than related theoretical foundations, such as labor process theory, post-structuralism, or critical realism, which will be described in subsequent chapters of the Handbook. CT has a unique philosophical tradition and distinct paradigmatic characteristics (Rasmussen 1994; Rush 2004); and, in order to demonstrate how CT has been used to study organizations, we will describe these characteristics and show how they have impacted CMS.Since a number of good historical overviews already exist (see, e.g., Held 1980; Wiggershaus 1994), we will consider the history and development of CT only in so far as it is of direct relevance to the understanding of the emergence of CMS. The chapter focuses mainly on the principal contributors of CT - here equated with the Frankfurt School and the writings of authors such as Theodor Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Herbert Marcuse, Jurgen Habermas, as well as authors of the younger generation. We will review a number of criticisms leveled at CT, from the aggressive to the more sympathetic types of critique, and show how these are relevant to CMS research. We also refer to Habermas's more recent work on political philosophy and deliberative democracy, as it is relevant for correcting dated understandings of his position and may suggest new directions for future work in CMS.