- Bangor University, Sociology Department, Bangor LL57 2DG
Marcel Stoetzler
Bangor University, Sociology, Faculty Member
- Nationalism, History of Sociology, Antisemitism/Racisms, Marxist theory, Karl Marx, Sociology of Culture, and 18 moreMoishe Postone, Critical Theories of Antisemitism, John Holloway, Race, Class, Sex and Gender, Critical Theory, Intellectual History, Theodor Adorno, Frankfurt School, Antisemitism (Prejudice), Sociological Theory, Critical Social Theory, Antisemitism, Max Horkheimer, Autonomist Marxism, Negative Dialectics, and Anselm Jappeedit
This volume provides a systematic re-examination of the Frankfurt School's theory of antisemitism and, employing this critical theory, investigates the presence of antisemitism in 20th- and 21st-century politics and society. Critical... more
This volume provides a systematic re-examination of the Frankfurt School's theory of antisemitism and, employing this critical theory, investigates the presence of antisemitism in 20th- and 21st-century politics and society.
Critical Theory and the Critique of Antisemitism uncovers how critical theory differs from mainstream socialist or liberal critiques of antisemitism, as it frames its rejection of antisemitism in the critique of other aspects of modern capitalist society, which traditional theories leave unchallenged or critique only in passing. Amongst others, these include issues of identity, nation, race, and sexuality. In exploring the Frankfurt School's writings on antisemitism therefore, the chapters in this book reveal connections to other pressing societal issues, such as racism more broadly, patriarchy, statism, and the societal dynamics of the ever-evolving capitalist mode of production.
Putting the theory to practice, this volume brings together interdisciplinary scholars and activists who employ critical theory to scrutinise right- and left-wing manifestations of antisemitism. They develop, in their critique of antisemitism, a critique of capitalism, as the authors ask: why does modern capitalist society seem bound to produce antisemitism? And how do we challenge it?
At a time when the rise of populism internationally has brought with it new strains of antisemitism, this is an essential resource that demonstrates the continuing relevance of the critical theory of the Frankfurt School for the struggle against antisemitism today.
Critical Theory and the Critique of Antisemitism uncovers how critical theory differs from mainstream socialist or liberal critiques of antisemitism, as it frames its rejection of antisemitism in the critique of other aspects of modern capitalist society, which traditional theories leave unchallenged or critique only in passing. Amongst others, these include issues of identity, nation, race, and sexuality. In exploring the Frankfurt School's writings on antisemitism therefore, the chapters in this book reveal connections to other pressing societal issues, such as racism more broadly, patriarchy, statism, and the societal dynamics of the ever-evolving capitalist mode of production.
Putting the theory to practice, this volume brings together interdisciplinary scholars and activists who employ critical theory to scrutinise right- and left-wing manifestations of antisemitism. They develop, in their critique of antisemitism, a critique of capitalism, as the authors ask: why does modern capitalist society seem bound to produce antisemitism? And how do we challenge it?
At a time when the rise of populism internationally has brought with it new strains of antisemitism, this is an essential resource that demonstrates the continuing relevance of the critical theory of the Frankfurt School for the struggle against antisemitism today.
Research Interests: Critical Theory, Marxism, Race and Racism, Theodor Adorno, Max Horkheimer, and 14 moreAntisemitism (Prejudice), Holocaust Studies, Antisemitism/Racisms, Adorno, Frankfurt School, Theodor W. Adorno, Open Marxism, Antisemitism, Society, Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Moishe Postone, Auschwitz, Theorie Und Geschichte Des Antisemitismus, and Adorno/Horkheimer
Beginning classical social theory introduces students and educated general readers to thirteen key social theorists by way of examining a single, exemplary text by each author, ranging from Comte to Adorno. It answers the need for a book... more
Beginning classical social theory introduces students and educated general readers to thirteen key social theorists by way of examining a single, exemplary text by each author, ranging from Comte to Adorno. It answers the need for a book that helps students develop the skill to critically read theory. Rather than learning how to admire the canonical theorists, readers are alerted to the flow of their arguments and the texts' contradictions and limitations. Having gotten 'under the skin' of one key text by each author will provide readers with a solid starting point for further study.
Contents:
1 Introduction: If it is not mysterious, it is not social theory
2 The well-planned reorganisation of society: Auguste Comte
3 If you can't beat democracy, join it: Alexis de Tocqueville
4 Pariahs of the world, unite!: Flora Tristan
5 Capitalist modernity is the real savagery: Karl Marx
6 The conflict of community and society: Ferdinand Tönnies
7 There is some Thing out there: Emile Durkheim
8 The double consciousness: W. E. B. Du Bois
9 From good to bad capitalism and back: Max Weber
10 Strangers who are from here: Georg Simmel
11 Love, marriage and patriarchy: Marianne Weber
12 Critical versus traditional theory: Max Horkheimer
13 What is a woman, and who is asking anyway: Simone de Beauvoir
14 Society as mediation: Theodor W. Adorno
Contents:
1 Introduction: If it is not mysterious, it is not social theory
2 The well-planned reorganisation of society: Auguste Comte
3 If you can't beat democracy, join it: Alexis de Tocqueville
4 Pariahs of the world, unite!: Flora Tristan
5 Capitalist modernity is the real savagery: Karl Marx
6 The conflict of community and society: Ferdinand Tönnies
7 There is some Thing out there: Emile Durkheim
8 The double consciousness: W. E. B. Du Bois
9 From good to bad capitalism and back: Max Weber
10 Strangers who are from here: Georg Simmel
11 Love, marriage and patriarchy: Marianne Weber
12 Critical versus traditional theory: Max Horkheimer
13 What is a woman, and who is asking anyway: Simone de Beauvoir
14 Society as mediation: Theodor W. Adorno
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Modern antisemitism and the modern discipline of sociology not only emerged in the same period, but—antagonism and hostility between the two discourses notwithstanding—also overlapped and complemented each other. Sociology emerged in a... more
Modern antisemitism and the modern discipline of sociology not only emerged in the same period, but—antagonism and hostility between the two discourses notwithstanding—also overlapped and complemented each other. Sociology emerged in a society where modernization was often perceived as destroying unity and “social cohesion.” Antisemitism was likewise a response to the modern age, offering in its vilifications of “the Jew” an explanation of society’s deficiencies and crises.
Antisemitism and the Constitution of Sociology is a collection of essays providing a comparative analysis of modern antisemitism and the rise of sociology. This volume addresses three key areas: the strong influence of writers of Jewish background and the rising tide of antisemitism on the formation of sociology; the role of antisemitism in the historical development of sociology through its treatment by leading figures in the field, such as Emile Durkheim, Talcott Parsons, and Theodor W. Adorno; and the discipline’s development in the aftermath of the Nazi Holocaust. Together the essays provide a fresh perspective on the history of sociology and the role that antisemitism, Jews, fascism, and the Holocaust played in shaping modern social theory.
Marcel Stoetzler is a lecturer in sociology at Bangor University. He is the author of The State, the Nation, and the Jews: Liberalism and the Antisemitism Dispute in Bismarck’s Germany (Nebraska, 2008).
Contributors: Y. Michal Bodemann, Werner Bonefeld, Detlev Claussen, Robert Fine, Chad Alan Goldberg, Irmela Gorges, Jonathan Judaken, Richard H. King, Daniel Lvovich, Amos Morris-Reich, Roland Robertson, Marcel Stoetzler, and Eva-Maria Ziege.
Praise:
“Anyone in the social sciences concerned with antisemitism, prejudice, racism, myth, ideology, and theory should be interested in this volume.”—Mark P. Worrell, associate professor at the State University of New York, Cortland, and author of Dialectic of Solidarity: Labor, Antisemitism, and the Frankfurt School
Antisemitism and the Constitution of Sociology is a collection of essays providing a comparative analysis of modern antisemitism and the rise of sociology. This volume addresses three key areas: the strong influence of writers of Jewish background and the rising tide of antisemitism on the formation of sociology; the role of antisemitism in the historical development of sociology through its treatment by leading figures in the field, such as Emile Durkheim, Talcott Parsons, and Theodor W. Adorno; and the discipline’s development in the aftermath of the Nazi Holocaust. Together the essays provide a fresh perspective on the history of sociology and the role that antisemitism, Jews, fascism, and the Holocaust played in shaping modern social theory.
Marcel Stoetzler is a lecturer in sociology at Bangor University. He is the author of The State, the Nation, and the Jews: Liberalism and the Antisemitism Dispute in Bismarck’s Germany (Nebraska, 2008).
Contributors: Y. Michal Bodemann, Werner Bonefeld, Detlev Claussen, Robert Fine, Chad Alan Goldberg, Irmela Gorges, Jonathan Judaken, Richard H. King, Daniel Lvovich, Amos Morris-Reich, Roland Robertson, Marcel Stoetzler, and Eva-Maria Ziege.
Praise:
“Anyone in the social sciences concerned with antisemitism, prejudice, racism, myth, ideology, and theory should be interested in this volume.”—Mark P. Worrell, associate professor at the State University of New York, Cortland, and author of Dialectic of Solidarity: Labor, Antisemitism, and the Frankfurt School
Research Interests: Critical Theory, Intellectual History, Sociology, Social Movements, Social Theory, and 29 moreJewish Studies, History of Ideas, Critical Race Studies, Race and Racism, Critical Social Theory, Critical Race Theory, Race and Ethnicity, Antisemitism (Prejudice), Jewish - Christian Relations, Sociological Theory, Antisemitism/Racisms, Jewish Thought, Intellectual and cultural history, Modern Jewish History, Jewish Cultural Studies, Social and sociological theory, Max Weber, Jewish heritage, Polish-Jewish / German-Jewish Relations, klezmer revival, Jewish heritage tourism, Holocaust commemoration, antisemitism, social identity, oral history, History of Political Ideas, Antisemitism in modern Europe, Contemporary Sociological Theory, Sociological theory/analysis, qualitative research methods, social anthropology, political sociology, social movements, democratization, State-society relations, civil society role in developing countries, Antisemitismo, Classical Sociological Theory, History of Antisemitism, Political and Sociological Theory, Critical Theories of Antisemitism, Theorie Und Geschichte Des Antisemitismus, and Antisemitism and the Left
"This study is an important contribution to our understanding of liberal ideology, nationalism, and German antisemitism, particularly in the English language."—Michael B. Gross, Journal of Modern History “This is a remarkable [book]... more
"This study is an important contribution to our understanding of liberal ideology, nationalism, and German antisemitism, particularly in the English language."—Michael B. Gross, Journal of Modern History
“This is a remarkable [book] of admirable substance and considerable originality, distinguished by the form and scale of its intellectual ambition and by a kind of stubborn independent-mindedness of approach. . . . Stoetzler succeeds impressively in his purposes, using the immediate subject matter as a lens through which to address a wide range of topics of palpably larger importance. His book is coherently focused, tightly organized, and clearly written at a very high level of intelligence. It makes a major contribution to a variety of important literatures.”—Geoff Eley, Karl Pohrt Distinguished University Professor of Contemporary History at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
“This is a remarkable [book] of admirable substance and considerable originality, distinguished by the form and scale of its intellectual ambition and by a kind of stubborn independent-mindedness of approach. . . . Stoetzler succeeds impressively in his purposes, using the immediate subject matter as a lens through which to address a wide range of topics of palpably larger importance. His book is coherently focused, tightly organized, and clearly written at a very high level of intelligence. It makes a major contribution to a variety of important literatures.”—Geoff Eley, Karl Pohrt Distinguished University Professor of Contemporary History at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Research Interests: Critical Theory, Intellectual History, Cultural History, German History, Liberalism, and 15 moreAntisemitism (Prejudice), Nationalism, Nationalism, Antisemitism/Racisms, Critical Theory and Difference, 19th Century German History, Frankfurt School, Modern German History, German Intellectual History, German Nationalism, The Third Reich, Jewish heritage, Polish-Jewish / German-Jewish Relations, klezmer revival, Jewish heritage tourism, Holocaust commemoration, antisemitism, social identity, oral history, The Holocaust, Irish Nationalism, and The Ideology of National Socialism and the Circulation of National Socialist Ideas In Europe
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Two decades have gone by since John Holloway embarked on a journey with Change the World without Taking Power (Pluto Press, 2010a), one he continued with Crack Capitalism (Pluto Press, 2010b) ten years later; now, he adds yet another... more
Two decades have gone by since John Holloway embarked on a journey with Change the World without Taking Power (Pluto Press, 2010a), one he continued with Crack Capitalism (Pluto Press, 2010b) ten years later; now, he adds yet another stretch with his new book, Hope in Hopeless Times (Pluto Press, 2022). This is his new attempt to rethink revolution. To understand revolution not in the traditional terms of taking state power and subsequently transforming society from the state, but rather in those of a process of multiplication and convergence of the different cracks that run through capitalist domination every single day.
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jcs.sagepub.com
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The essay is in three parts. The first part (which includes the first three sections) contains historical reflections on the meanings of the concepts ‘left-wing’ and ‘right-wing’, relating them to the ideas of the French Revolution, and... more
The essay is in three parts. The first part (which includes the first three sections) contains historical reflections on the meanings of the concepts ‘left-wing’ and ‘right-wing’, relating them to the ideas of the French Revolution, and on the distinction between the three principal types of modern antisemitism, left-wing, right-wing and ‘conservative- revolutionary’. The middle part contains the main argument, beginning with the fourth section, which argues that Marx and Engels’ Communist Manifesto contains a dialectical view of capitalism that is not straightforwardly anti-capitalist. This is extended in the fifth section that discusses, in the perspective of the dialectic of capitalism and emancipation, anti-imperialism, cultural nationalism and the ethnicised concept of ‘community’ inherent in state-centric, bureaucratic multiculturalism. The third part of the essay (sections six to nine) begins with a discussion of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and then moves to some recent debates on cases of ‘left-wing antisemitism’ that are used to illustrate the main argument. It is concluded that ‘left-wing antisemitism’, like the nationalist antiimperialism that nowadays often provides its context, follows from a failure of anti-capitalists to embrace the corrosive effects capitalism has on enduring oppressive and exploitative societal structures that predate capitalism, such as patriarchy. Antisemitic forms of anti-capitalism refer by ‘Jewish capitalism’ to corrosive and exploitative capitalism, silently presupposing the possible existence of other, ‘non-Jewish’ types of capitalism imagined as productive, harmonious and peaceful. Antisemitic forms of anti-Israelism use ‘Zionism’ as a name of the world’s imperialist domination by ‘Jewish capitalism’ in this particular sense. The confusions involved in these issues lead to a blurring of the meanings of the very concepts ‘right-wing’ and ‘left-wing’.
Research Interests: Antisemitism (Prejudice), Social Justice, Nationalism, Conservative Revolution, Conspiracy Theories, and 14 moreCapitalism, Modernity, Marxist theory, Antisemitism/Racisms, Karl Marx, Antisemitism, Anti-Capitalism, Anti-imperialism, Anti-Zionism, New World Order, Anti Semitism, History of the Left, Marxist Theory, and Left and Right Political Culture Model
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introduction to Capital volume 1, section 1, chapter 1.
Research Interests: Critical Theory, Social Theory, Marxism, Critical Social Theory, Communism, and 15 moreCapitalism, Value Theory, Modernity, Marxist theory, Classical Social Theory, Critique of Political Economy, Socialism, Karl Marx, Value Form Theory, Commodity Fetishization, Commodity Fetishism, Labour Theory of Value, Classical sociology, Classical and Contemporary Social Theory, and Marxist Theory
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Dialectic of Enlightenment: Philosophical Fragments is translated from Volume 5 of Max Horkheimer, Gesammelte Schriften: Dialektik der Aufklarung und Schriften 1940—1950, edited by Gunzelin Schmid Noetr, ©1987 by S. Fishcher Verlag GmbH,... more
Dialectic of Enlightenment: Philosophical Fragments is translated from Volume 5 of Max Horkheimer, Gesammelte Schriften: Dialektik der Aufklarung und Schriften 1940—1950, edited by Gunzelin Schmid Noetr, ©1987 by S. Fishcher Verlag GmbH, Frankfurt am Main. ...
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'Antisemitism and the British Labour Party' (Opinion article on History & Policy)
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Research Interests: History, Sociology, Cultural Studies, Ethnic Studies, Multiculturalism, and 14 moreCritical Race Studies, Race and Racism, Immigration, Political Science, Critical Race Theory, Race and Ethnicity, Political Extremism/Radicalism/Populism, Nationalism, Populism, Whiteness Studies, Critical Whiteness Studies, Whiteness, Right Wing Populism, and Multiculture
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Research Interests: Critical Theory, Social Anthropology, Sex and Gender, Social Identity, Race and Racism, and 15 moreFrankfurt School (Philosophy), Theodor Adorno, Political Science, Critical Race Theory, Identity (Culture), Max Horkheimer, Race and Ethnicity, Marxist theory, Philosophy Of Race, Abstraction, Adorno, Frankfurt School, Moishe Postone, Fast Capitalism, and Marxist Theory
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This article examines a fundamental theoretical aspect of the discourse on ‘intersectionality’ in feminist and anti-racist social theory, namely, the question whether intersecting social divisions including those of sex, gender, race,... more
This article examines a fundamental theoretical aspect of the discourse on ‘intersectionality’ in feminist and anti-racist social theory, namely, the question whether intersecting social divisions including those of sex, gender, race, class and sexuality are interacting but independent entities with autonomous ontological bases or whether they are different dimensions of the same social system that lack separate social ontologies and constitute each other. Based on a historical reconstruction of its genesis, the article frames this as a dispute between system-theoretical and dialectical, ‘Critical Theory’-related approaches and argues that the latter better capture the dynamics of contemporary society, including the perspective of its transcendence.
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Research Interests: Critical Theory, Intellectual History, Cultural Studies, History of Ideas, Critical Race Studies, and 15 moreCritical Social Theory, Critical Race Theory, Intellectual and cultural history, Antisemitism, History of Political Ideas, Antisemitism in modern Europe, Contemporary Sociological Theory, Jewish Christian relations, Constitution, Historical Studies, Antisemitismo, Classical Sociological Theory, History of Antisemitism, Critical Theories of Antisemitism, and Antisemitism and the Left
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Angesichts der scheinbar kapitalismuskritischen Aspekte des nationalsozialistischen Antisemitismus ist es wichtig, Kapitalismuskritik daraufhin zu untersuchen, ob sie im Rahmen einer emanzipatorischen oder gegen-emanzipatorischen Form von... more
Angesichts der scheinbar kapitalismuskritischen Aspekte des nationalsozialistischen Antisemitismus ist es wichtig, Kapitalismuskritik daraufhin zu untersuchen, ob sie im Rahmen einer emanzipatorischen oder gegen-emanzipatorischen Form von Zivilisationskritik formuliert ist. Horkheimer und Adornos Dialektik der Aufklarung entfaltet eine Selbstkritik der Aufklarung, die auf eine Reform des Prozesses der Zivilisation abzielt, die von deren eigener materialer Realitat lernt, ihre Beschranktheit zu uberwinden. Dies geschieht durch die Kritik eines als uberhistorisch missverstandenen Arbeitsbegriffs, perpetuiert von einer noch allzu burgerlichen Arbeiterbewegung, der sich mit der Unterordnung der Zivilisation unter die Sachzwange der Selbsterhaltung einverstanden gibt. Die ‚Verschlingung von Mythos, Herrschaft und Arbeit‘, die den modernen, burgerlichen Menschen als einen verfestigten anthropologischen Typus hervorgebracht hat, muss uberwunden werden, wenn Aufklarung schlieslich befreiend...
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This thesis analyses the series of newspaper and journal articles and pamphlets published in 1879/1880 which constitute what came to be called the 'Berlin Antisemitism dispute'. They were written by the German historian and... more
This thesis analyses the series of newspaper and journal articles and pamphlets published in 1879/1880 which constitute what came to be called the 'Berlin Antisemitism dispute'. They were written by the German historian and politician Heinrich von Treitschke and some of ...
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The essay is in three parts. The first part (which includes the first three sections) contains historical reflections on the meanings of the concepts ‘left-wing’ and ‘right-wing’, relating them to the ideas of the French Revolution, and... more
The essay is in three parts. The first part (which includes the first three
sections) contains historical reflections on the meanings of the concepts ‘left-wing’ and ‘right-wing’, relating them to the ideas of the French Revolution, and on the distinction between the three principal types of modern antisemitism, left-wing, right-wing and ‘conservative-
revolutionary’. The middle part contains the main argument, beginning
with the fourth section, which argues that Marx and Engels’ Communist
Manifesto contains a dialectical view of capitalism that is not
straightforwardly anti-capitalist. This is extended in the fifth section that
discusses, in the perspective of the dialectic of capitalism and
emancipation, anti-imperialism, cultural nationalism and the ethnicised
concept of ‘community’ inherent in state-centric, bureaucratic
multiculturalism. The third part of the essay (sections six to nine) begins
with a discussion of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and then moves to some recent debates on cases of ‘left-wing antisemitism’ that are used to illustrate the main argument. It is concluded that ‘left-wing antisemitism’, like the nationalist antiimperialism that nowadays often provides its context, follows from a failure of anti-capitalists to embrace the corrosive effects capitalism has on enduring oppressive and exploitative societal structures that predate capitalism, such as patriarchy. Antisemitic forms of anti-capitalism refer
by ‘Jewish capitalism’ to corrosive and exploitative capitalism, silently
presupposing the possible existence of other, ‘non-Jewish’ types of
capitalism imagined as productive, harmonious and peaceful. Antisemitic forms of anti-Israelism use ‘Zionism’ as a name of the world’s imperialist domination by ‘Jewish capitalism’ in this particular sense. The confusions involved in these issues lead to a blurring of the meanings of the very concepts ‘right-wing’ and ‘left-wing’.
sections) contains historical reflections on the meanings of the concepts ‘left-wing’ and ‘right-wing’, relating them to the ideas of the French Revolution, and on the distinction between the three principal types of modern antisemitism, left-wing, right-wing and ‘conservative-
revolutionary’. The middle part contains the main argument, beginning
with the fourth section, which argues that Marx and Engels’ Communist
Manifesto contains a dialectical view of capitalism that is not
straightforwardly anti-capitalist. This is extended in the fifth section that
discusses, in the perspective of the dialectic of capitalism and
emancipation, anti-imperialism, cultural nationalism and the ethnicised
concept of ‘community’ inherent in state-centric, bureaucratic
multiculturalism. The third part of the essay (sections six to nine) begins
with a discussion of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and then moves to some recent debates on cases of ‘left-wing antisemitism’ that are used to illustrate the main argument. It is concluded that ‘left-wing antisemitism’, like the nationalist antiimperialism that nowadays often provides its context, follows from a failure of anti-capitalists to embrace the corrosive effects capitalism has on enduring oppressive and exploitative societal structures that predate capitalism, such as patriarchy. Antisemitic forms of anti-capitalism refer
by ‘Jewish capitalism’ to corrosive and exploitative capitalism, silently
presupposing the possible existence of other, ‘non-Jewish’ types of
capitalism imagined as productive, harmonious and peaceful. Antisemitic forms of anti-Israelism use ‘Zionism’ as a name of the world’s imperialist domination by ‘Jewish capitalism’ in this particular sense. The confusions involved in these issues lead to a blurring of the meanings of the very concepts ‘right-wing’ and ‘left-wing’.
Research Interests: Antisemitism (Prejudice), Nationalism, Conservative Revolution, Conspiracy Theories, Modernity, and 12 moreMarxist theory, Anti-Semitism, Antisemitism/Racisms, Karl Marx, Antisemitism, Anti-Capitalism, Anti-imperialism, Anti-Zionism, New World Order, Multi-culturalism and social cohesion, History of the Left, and Left and Right Political Culture Model
This article examines a fundamental theoretical aspect of the discourse on 'inter-sectionality' in feminist and anti-racist social theory, namely, the question whether intersecting social divisions including those of sex, gender, race,... more
This article examines a fundamental theoretical aspect of the discourse on 'inter-sectionality' in feminist and anti-racist social theory, namely, the question whether intersecting social divisions including those of sex, gender, race, class and sexuality are interacting but independent entities with autonomous ontological bases or whether they are different dimensions of the same social system that lack separate social ontologies and constitute each other. Based on a historical reconstruction of its genesis, the article frames this as a dispute between system-theoretical and dialectical, 'Critical Theory'-related approaches and argues that the latter better capture the dynamics of contemporary society, including the perspective of its transcendence.
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introduction to Capital volume 1, section 1, chapter 1.
Research Interests: Critical Theory, Social Theory, Marxism, Critical Social Theory, Communism, and 15 moreCapitalism, Value Theory, Marxist theory, Classical Social Theory, Critique of Political Economy, Work and Labour, Socialism, Karl Marx, Anti-Capitalism, Value Form Theory, Commodity Fetishization, Commodity Fetishism, Labour Theory of Value, Classical sociology, and Classical and Contemporary Social Theory
in: König, Mareike; Oliver Schulz (eds.), Anti-Semitism in the 19th Century in International Perspective. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht unipress (Schriften aus der Max Weber Stiftung), pp. 83-100.
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Everything begins in France: sociology and, hard to believe, antisemitism too. Auschwitz, the epitome of the National Socialist mass murder of European Jews between 1942 and 1945, has obstructed our perspective on the history of... more
Everything begins in France: sociology and, hard to believe, antisemitism
too. Auschwitz, the epitome of the National Socialist mass murder
of European Jews between 1942 and 1945, has obstructed our perspective on the history of antisemitism. Only reflection in the mode of social theory can open it up again. Such reflection was pioneered by the critical theorists, exiled in the United States, whose epochal key text, Dialectic of Enlightenment (1944), throws its light also on the present volume and its exploration of the genetic connection between sociology and antisemitism.
too. Auschwitz, the epitome of the National Socialist mass murder
of European Jews between 1942 and 1945, has obstructed our perspective on the history of antisemitism. Only reflection in the mode of social theory can open it up again. Such reflection was pioneered by the critical theorists, exiled in the United States, whose epochal key text, Dialectic of Enlightenment (1944), throws its light also on the present volume and its exploration of the genetic connection between sociology and antisemitism.
Research Interests: Critical Theory, Sociology, Max Horkheimer, Antisemitism (Prejudice), History of Sociology, and 10 moreHolocaust Studies, Antisemitism/Racisms, Frankfurt School, Antisemitism, Holocaust and Genocide Studies, The Holocaust, Holocaust Shoah, Dialectic of Enlightenment, Adorno/Horkheimer, and Horkheimer Max Adorno Theodor W Dialectic of Enlightenment Philosophical Fragments
This article proposes a novel reading of Max Horkheimer and Theodor W. Adorno's emblematic book Dialectic of Enlightenment(1947). Horkheimer and Adorno took as their starting point the observation that modern liberal, human and social... more
This article proposes a novel reading of Max Horkheimer and Theodor W. Adorno's emblematic book Dialectic of Enlightenment(1947). Horkheimer and Adorno took as their starting point the observation that modern liberal, human and social progress has tipped over into a new form of barbarism but explicitly refused to develop it into a rejection of the enlightenment and its values as such. Instead, the dialectical view seeks even in the darkest moment of the failure of civilization, which is here epitomized in the Holocaust, reasons to defend a self-reflective, more enlightened form of human civilization. The dialectical theory does not reject but rearticulates the idea of progress that remains central to most forms of liberal and socialist theory. One of the central questions is, under what conditions do the instruments of enlightenment and civilization, including scientific and technological rationality, social organisation and general productivity, serve either emancipation or barbarism. Warding off the positivistic attack on any form of metaphysics and utopian thinking, Horkheimer and Adorno emphasised the need for enlightenment to be based on non-empiricist, reality-transcending, critical thinking in order to be in the service of emancipation rather than domination. The human mind atrophies when deprived of its freedom of movement. The more abstract, philosophical argument of Dialectic of Enlightenment is developed through several more historically specific materials, one of which is the interpretation of modern antisemitism. Horkheimer and Adorno combine in this context a Marxist analysis of aspects of continuity between liberal and fascist governance, based on the concepts of the commodity-form and the wage-form of modern social relations, with an
Research Interests: Theodor Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Antisemitism (Prejudice), Fascism, Capitalism, and 15 moreMarxist theory, Socialism, Adorno, National Socialism, Theodor W. Adorno, Holocaust, Civilization, Philosophy of the Enlightenment, Odyssey, Rationality, Antisemitism, Anti-Capitalism, Positivism, Dialectics, and Dialectic of Enlightenment
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The concept of “situated knowledge” is a major epistemological tool in feminist and antiracist theory. It presents an alternative to positivist notions of objectivity on the one hand and relativism on the other. The term itself goes back... more
The concept of “situated knowledge” is a major epistemological tool in feminist and antiracist theory. It presents an alternative to positivist notions of objectivity on the one hand and relativism on the other. The term itself goes back to an article by Donna Haraway first published in 1988 in the journal Feminist Studies and titled “Situated Knowledges: The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege of Partial Perspective” (Haraway, 1991 [1988]). In keeping with Haraway's characteristically provocative use of language, the very title of the article contains two challenges to conventional epistemology and the sociology of knowledge: the pluralization of the word “knowledge” as soon as it is understood as “situated,” and the notion that partiality of perspective can be a privilege, when common sense would suggest that “partiality” points to a lack and that a privileged perspective is one that is all-seeing and all-knowing. The latter – the ideal observer–knower–speaker situation as imagined by more traditional epistemologies – is famously lampooned by Haraway as “the god-trick of seeing everything from nowhere” (1991 [1988]: 189).
Research Interests: Epistemology, Feminist Theory, Sociology of Knowledge, Situated Cognition, Karl Mannheim, and 14 moreIdeology, Relativism, Social Epistemology, Sociology of Science, Donna Haraway, Epistemology of the Social Sciences, Anti-Racism, Objectivity, Cultural Relativism, Positivism, Anti-Positivism, Sandra Harding, Nira Yuval Davis, and Dorothy E Smith
The secondary literature on Dialectic of Enlightenment is vast but most contributions focus on one isolated aspect or chapter of the book. Much of it is meta-theoretical and often sidesteps detailed textual analysis. There is a general... more
The secondary literature on Dialectic of Enlightenment is vast but most contributions focus on one isolated aspect or chapter of the book. Much of it is meta-theoretical and often sidesteps detailed textual analysis. There is a general tendency to overstate the extent to which Dialectic of Enlightenment constitutes a turning point in Critical Theory. Schmid Noerr, one of the most authoritative commentators in the German-language literature, asserts that in his writings from the 1930s Horkheimer had seemed more optimistic about the possibility that Critical Theory could be articulated with critical empirical scholarship as well as radical political action than Dialectic of Enlightenment suggests (Schmid Noerr, 1987: 437). He also points out, though, that several projects that involved empirical research, and which were begun in parallel with and completed after Dialectic of Enlightenment, closely followed the programme of Critical Theory as formulated by Horkheimer in the 1930s, including proposals for reform of the education system meant to prevent the emergence of the ‘authoritarian character’ prone to fascist mobilization (Schmid Noerr, 1987: 448). Observations like these suggest that there are multiple shifts in emphasis between the many different texts that comprise the canon of Critical Theory but no definitive and central shift of perspective. This chapter is based on a close reading and examination of key passages of the text and concludes that the idea that there was a ‘negative turn’ of which Dialectic of Enlightenment was the avatar is simplistic and unconvincing.
Research Interests: Critical Theory, Frankfurt School (Philosophy), Social and Cultural Anthropology, Theodor Adorno, Critical Social Theory, and 13 moreMax Horkheimer, Antisemitism (Prejudice), Enlightenment, Marxist theory, Antisemitism/Racisms, Frankfurt School, Theodor W. Adorno, Civilization, Antisemitism, Dialectics, Dialectic of Enlightenment, Adorno/Horkheimer, and Horkheimer Max Adorno Theodor W Dialectic of Enlightenment Philosophical Fragments
The rejection of 'anti-imperialism' marks one of the most visible and significant differences between 'Frankfurt School' Critical Theory and most other tendencies of the Marxist left. The dispute on the meaning and relevance of... more
The rejection of 'anti-imperialism' marks one of the most visible and significant differences between 'Frankfurt School' Critical Theory and most other tendencies of the Marxist left. The dispute on the meaning and relevance of 'imperialism' and 'anti-imperialism' is implicated in related discussions on the critique of nation and state, colonialism and post-coloniality, racism and race, and antisemitism. 'Frankfurt School' Critical Theory deliberately aims to formulate a critique of the capitalist mode of production that includes the phenomena typically addressed as 'imperialism' without recourse to the concept of 'anti-imperialism'. It takes the perspective that 'imperialism' is an intrinsic aspect of the capitalist mode of production rather than an object in its own right that is to be distinguished from the latter and to be fought 'as such': the concept of 'anti-imperialism' presupposes the reification and fetishization of 'imperialism'. The present chapter firstly aims to establish the ways in which the concept of 'imperialism' is used in the writings of Marx as well as in the texts of some of the canonical writers of 'Frankfurt School' Critical Theory. It is argued that the Critical Theorists' Marxian usage of the term prevented the emergence of a concept of 'anti-imperialism' in their writings: 'imperialism' was for them simply an aspect of the more general concept of capitalism. The remainder of the chapter engages with some positions formulated in the tradition or under the influence of Critical Theory since the 1960s, broadly conceived, that directly engage with 'anti-imperialism': the latter had in the meantime become a key issue in some of the social movements of the time due to the role played within post-WWII decolonization by Leninism/Stalinism as well as bourgeois-liberal anti-imperialist ideology (Hobson) that had already been one of the sources of the former.
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This is the introductory chapter of my book Beginning Classical Social Theory (Manchester University Press 2017); it discusses the concepts 'social' and 'theory'.
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This is the preface of the book Beginning classical social theory, Manchester University Press 2017, containing a brief explanation of the approach and abstracts of all chapters. A sample chapter can be found on the publisher's website:... more
This is the preface of the book Beginning classical social theory, Manchester University Press 2017, containing a brief explanation of the approach and abstracts of all chapters. A sample chapter can be found on the publisher's website: http://www.manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781784991456/
Beginning classical social theory introduces students and educated general readers to thirteen key social theorists by way of examining a single, exemplary text by each author, ranging from Comte to Adorno. It answers the need for a book that helps students develop the skill to critically read theory. Rather than learning how to admire the canonical theorists, readers are alerted to the flow of their arguments and the texts' contradictions and limitations. Having gotten 'under the skin' of one key text by each author will provide readers with a solid starting point for further study. The book will be suitable as the principal textbook in social theory modules as much as alongside a more conventional textbook as a recommended additional tool for self-study. It will appeal to undergraduate and postgraduate students as well as educated lay readers.
Beginning classical social theory introduces students and educated general readers to thirteen key social theorists by way of examining a single, exemplary text by each author, ranging from Comte to Adorno. It answers the need for a book that helps students develop the skill to critically read theory. Rather than learning how to admire the canonical theorists, readers are alerted to the flow of their arguments and the texts' contradictions and limitations. Having gotten 'under the skin' of one key text by each author will provide readers with a solid starting point for further study. The book will be suitable as the principal textbook in social theory modules as much as alongside a more conventional textbook as a recommended additional tool for self-study. It will appeal to undergraduate and postgraduate students as well as educated lay readers.
Research Interests: Critical Theory, Sociology, Social Theory, Social Sciences, Theodor Adorno, and 19 moreMax Horkheimer, Simone de Beauvoir, Sociological Theory, Adorno, Georg Simmel, Emile Durkheim, Theodor W. Adorno, Karl Marx, Alexis de Tocqueville, Ferdinand Tönnies, Max Weber, Teaching sociology, Auguste Comte, Commodity Fetishism, Classical sociology, W.E.B. Du Bois, Classical Sociological Theory, Flora Tristan, and Marianne Weber (Sociology)
Seventy years ago, Querido Verlag, Amsterdam, published a densely written book that went on to become a rather unlikely key title of modern social philosophy. Underneath its surface of granite pessimism elements of a strangely sanguine... more
Seventy years ago, Querido Verlag, Amsterdam, published a densely written book that went on to become a rather unlikely key title of modern social philosophy. Underneath its surface of granite pessimism elements of a strangely sanguine theory wait to be discovered. [A birthday celebration...]
https://www.opendemocracy.net/can-europe-make-it/marcel-stoetzler/it-only-needs-all-re-reading-dialectic-of-enlightenment-at-70
https://www.opendemocracy.net/can-europe-make-it/marcel-stoetzler/it-only-needs-all-re-reading-dialectic-of-enlightenment-at-70
Research Interests: Critical Theory, Theodor Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Antisemitism (Prejudice), Fascism, and 11 moreEnlightenment, Dialectic, Antisemitism/Racisms, Adorno, Liberalism and Toleration, Theodor W. Adorno, Jewish heritage, Polish-Jewish / German-Jewish Relations, klezmer revival, Jewish heritage tourism, Holocaust commemoration, antisemitism, social identity, oral history, Antisemitism, Horkheimer Adorno, Adorno/Horkheimer, and Horkheimer Max Adorno Theodor W Dialectic of Enlightenment Philosophical Fragments
This is the same paper as found below with an additional correction.
Research Interests: Marxism and Imperialism
Thematischer Schwerpunkt Begriffsgeschichte, Historische Semantik, Historische Diskursanalyse, Historische Hilfswissenschaften, Theorien und Methoden der Geschichtswissenschaften, Transnationale Geschichte, Vergleichende Geschichte, ...
Modernity seems to produce its own specific pathologies. These pathologies are present as global catastrophes, such as global wars, climate crises, and genocides, or as more "common" and almost accepted pathologies, such as social... more
Modernity seems to produce its own specific pathologies. These pathologies are present as global catastrophes, such as global wars, climate crises, and genocides, or as more "common" and almost accepted pathologies, such as social exclusion, alienation, social suffering, exploitation, racism, sexism, antisemitism and so on. Critical approaches understand these pathologies as deeply interwoven with modernity, with a specific mode of social reproduction and even-as pathologies of reason-with Enlightenment itself. Critical theories point towards the unstable and precarious character of contemporary societies. Modern societies, as well as biographical experiences within them, are described in terms of, for instance, uncertainty, insecurity, crisis, and ruptures. Almost no sphere of the social can escape the fluidification of certainties and boundaries as well as the disquieting acceleration of the rhythms of life. The experience of fundamental crisis shapes the perception of the world of modern individuals. Furthermore, the catastrophes of the twentieth century, as well as the capacity of the destruction of mankind, require a critical analysis of our current models of reason. Serious reflection about modernity entails the analysis of the production of self-knowledge of modern societies. This production of social knowledge does not only take place in the academic field, but also in aesthetic production and in a huge variety of everyday discourses and practices. The aim of this collection is to understand macro processes of production of social pathologies and pathologies of reason as well as to understand the effects of these pathologies on individuals, societies and cultures. It sets out to analyse the social ontogenesis of knowledge and the social, material and intellectual conditions of this knowledge production. The collection aims at a broad, interdisciplinary understanding from all fields of social sciences and humanities of these pathologies from all fields of social sciences and humanities. It welcomes empirical studies on diverse social pathologies as well as theoretical works on modernity. Contributions are invited on, but not restricted to, the following themes:-The influence of the different varieties of capitalism on the diverse spheres of social life, such as labour, private sphere, culture;-Research on social suffering as well as on processes of invisibilization and marginalization of suffering;-Critical studies on the interrelation of subjectivation, power and knowledge;-Diverse forms of discrimination (racism, sexism, antisemitism, classism, etc) and their intersection;-Cultural, social and political research on mass violence, genocide and other global catastrophes;-Analyses of discourses, populism and particular knowledge as well as research on alternative or marginalized knowledge. Prospective authors should submit a 200-word abstract and a short biography to the Collection Editor in the first instance. Authors whose proposals are deemed suitable will be invited to submit full manuscripts by 31st of December 2020.
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With her study on Antisemitism and the Theory of Society: The Frankfurt School in American Exile Eva-Maria Ziege has made a highly significant contribution to our understanding of the history of the Institute of Social Research while... more
With her study on Antisemitism and the Theory of Society: The Frankfurt School in American Exile Eva-Maria Ziege has made a highly significant contribution to our understanding of the history of the Institute of Social Research while operating in the US from the late 1930s ...
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Alon Confino's A World without Jews is an engagingly written interpretative essay that is squarely situated within a now very prominent tradition of Holocaust historiography emphasizing memory, sentiment, and imagination: a number of... more
Alon Confino's A World without Jews is an engagingly written interpretative essay that is squarely situated within a now very prominent tradition of Holocaust historiography emphasizing memory, sentiment, and imagination: a number of Confino's earlier works have in fact significantly contributed to establishing this strand of literature. Confino chiefly aims to explore the role of a general German National-Socialist "world-view", or "culture, " a concept denoting something less specific and explicit than the more old-fashioned "ideology. " This general approach has evolved from social history's emphasis on individuals' agency-which includes that of perpetrators as well as victims and "bystanders"-and the role that the construction of meaning plays for it: people do, or refuse to do, things because they "con-struct" or "imagine" these things as somehow meaningful , or not, which does not necessarily require them to have adopted or developed anything like a coherent so-ciopolitical program. This type of social history, articulated in the sign of the "cultural turn" and, more recently, the "history of emotions" and "sensibilities, " has allowed interpreters more easily to take account of contradictions , inconsistencies, and plain irrationality, which earlier historiographies have often, albeit by no means always , tended to downplay. Given that irrationality is a chief characteristic of the Holocaust and, more generally, of antisemitism, it is unsurprising that this historiograph-ical paradigm offers itself to Holocaust studies. A World without Jews is a fine example of this trend, demonstrating the value of a specific, albeit inevitably partial perspective on the Holocaust, namely that of trying to reconstruct why the Holocaust seemed like a good idea to a rather large number of Germans. Confino mentions at the beginning of the book that writing history has for him something of playing music, and indeed the book is written in a style that sometimes recalls the montage technique of a radio play more than that of a scholarly treatise. Confino interweaves memory narrative with interpretative commentary (although the interpretations are not always strictly interpretations of the narratives) and long lists of anti-Jewish laws (thrown into the mix, in italics, without much comment, often resembling something out of Samuel Beckett), and for good measure, quite a few pictures-again, dropped onto the pages for illustration, but not discussed and interpreted 1
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With her study on Antisemitism and the Theory of Society: The Frankfurt School in American Exile Eva-Maria Ziege has made a highly significant contribution to our understanding of the history of the Institute of Social Research while... more
With her study on Antisemitism and the Theory of Society: The Frankfurt School in American Exile Eva-Maria Ziege has made a highly significant contribution to our understanding of the history of the Institute of Social Research while operating in the US from the late 1930s ...
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The Politics of Unreason constitutes a reliable and accessible presentation of the Frankfurt School’s various discussions of antisemitism, based on an analysis of a broad range of primary sources. ...
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Frank Bajohr, Dieter Pohl, Right-Wing Politics and the Rise of Antisemitism in Europe 1935–1941, Göttingen (Wallstein) 2019, 270 S. (European Holocaust Studies, 1), ISBN 978-3-8353-3347-5, EUR 38,00.
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The drift of Kaufmann’s 600-page manifesto is revealed in the first word on page one, chapter one: ‘We’. ‘We’ sums up its purpose and strategy: to defend, or reinforce, the national ‘we’ of nation-states in which the majority are people... more
The drift of Kaufmann’s 600-page manifesto is revealed in the first word on page one, chapter one: ‘We’. ‘We’ sums up its purpose and strategy: to defend, or reinforce, the national ‘we’ of nation-states in which the majority are people rather vaguely defined as ‘white’.