Discusses Horkheimer and Adorno's broad influences on philosophy, sociology, psychology and literary theory Uses the Dialectic of Enlightenment to explore the rise of social and cultural theory Written in a clear and engaging style, without sacrificing theoretical rigor

Autorentext

Howard Prosser is a Lecturer in Education at Monash University. He holds a Ph.D. in History from the University of Western Australia and a Ph.D. in Education from Monash University. Howard is a historian whose previous research focused on twentieth-century European and American intellectual history, especially the legacies of the Frankfurt School and the New Lefts. He has taught a range of histories at universities in Australia and Canada, and at schools.

Klappentext

This book explores the reception of Max Horkheimer and Theodor W. Adorno's Dialectic of Enlightenment. It examines a variety of perspectives on the text, supplied by e.g. American critical theorists, British New Leftists, Transatlantic Cultural Studies scholars, Postmodernists, and those working in the current after-theory moment from 1970 to 2010. It considers the works of the Frankfurt School, especially Horkheimer and Adorno, alongside the secondary literature on the subject. The main focus is on how various intellectual circles and trends have responded to the Dialectic, making scholarly discussions the primary sources. While the work is a history of the Dialectic of Enlightenment's Anglophone reception, it also reflects the post-1968 left's retreat to academia, which echoes the Frankfurt School's own stance of political resignation.

Inhalt

Foreword.- Acknowledgements.- Introduction.- 1.Composing Dialectic of Enlightenment.- 2.Reviving Dialectic of Enlightenment.- 3.A North American Dialectic of Enlightenment.- 4.Dialectic of Enlightenment and Habermasian Revision.- 5.Dialectic of Enlightenment and the British New Left.- 6.Dialectic of Enlightenment and Postmodernism.-7.Dialectic of Enlightenment and Cultural Studies.- 8.Dialectic of Enlightenment and Others: Postcolonialism and Feminism.- 9.Dialectic of Enlightenment's Future.- Conclusion.- Bibliography.