A CRITIQUE OF CRITICAL THEORY ON THE SELF-INDULGENCE OF CRITICISM IN ACADEMIA

Abstract

Critical Theory aims to provide a practical means of emancipation from social structures of domination for all actors who require it. I outline and critique the various academic practices of critical theorists, asserting that they often write in a specialised form that precludes the understanding of most actors, contradicting this aim. However, more than simply outlining the factors that lead to this contradiction, I also illuminate the reasons why such a significant contradiction has yet to be resolved by critical theorists. I claim that the motivator of social recognition and integration compels critical theorists to repeat the core practices and ideas of their discipline, eventually establishing these practices and ideas as a truth taken for granted, thus concealing the contradiction of their approach. Considering how Critical Theory is premised on self-reflexivity, I suggest, extending from my analysis of their contradiction, that such social contradictions are inevitable and should not be viewed in the critical sense as strictly immoral. As such, I assert that both the moral and methodological premises underlying Critical Theory should be reviewed to obtain a more effective theory of social criticism.