Outline of critical theory explained
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to critical theory:
Critical theory - the examination and critique of society and culture, drawing from knowledge across the social sciences and humanities. The term has two different meanings with different origins and histories: one originating in sociology and the other in literary criticism. This has led to the very literal use of 'critical theory' as an umbrella term to describe any theory founded upon critique. The term "Critical Theory" was first coined by Max Horkheimer in his 1937 essay "Traditional and Critical Theory".
Essence of critical theory
Concepts
Branches of critical theory
Actor–network theory
See main article: Actor–network theory.
Commonly used terms
African-American studies
See main article: Afro-pessimism (United States).
See also: Postcolonialism and Critical race theory.
Gender studies
Marxist theory
See main article: Marxist philosophy.
Commonly used terms
Postcolonialism
See main article: Postcolonialism.
Structuralism
See main article: Structuralism.
Post-structuralism
See main article: Post-structuralism.
Commonly used terms
Deconstruction
See main article: Deconstruction.
Commonly used terms
Postmodern philosophy
See main article: Postmodern philosophy.
Reconstructivism
See main article: Reconstructivism.
Psychoanalytic theory
Commonly used terms
Schizoanalytic theory
See main article: Schizoanalysis.
See also: Ecosophy.
Commonly used terms
Queer theory
Semiotics
See main article: Semiotics.
Commonly used terms
Literary theory
Commonly used terms
Theories of identity
- Private sphere - certain sector of societal life in which an individual enjoys a degree of authority, unhampered by interventions from governmental or other institutions. Examples of the private sphere are family and home. The complement or opposite of public sphere.
- Public sphere - area in social life where individuals can come together to freely discuss and identify societal problems, and through that discussion influence political action. It is "a discursive space in which individuals and groups congregate to discuss matters of mutual interest and, where possible, to reach a common judgment."
- Creolization
Major works
- Bloch, Ernst (1938–47). The Principle of Hope
- Fromm, Erich (1941). The Fear of Freedom (UK)/Escape from Freedom (US)
- Horkheimer, Max; Adorno, Theodor W. (1944–47). Dialectic of Enlightenment
- Barthes, Roland (1957). Mythologies
- Habermas, Jürgen (1962). The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere
- Marcuse, Herbert (1964). One-Dimensional Man
- Adorno, Theodor W. (1966). Negative Dialectics
- Derrida, Jacques (1967). Of Grammatology
- Derrida, Jacques (1967). Writing and Difference
- Habermas, Jürgen (1981). The Theory of Communicative Action
Major theorists
See main article: List of critical theorists.
External links
