The Critical Theory of the Frankfurt School and the German Leftist Protest Movement: A Discourse Analysis Cover Image

Kritische Theorie der Frankfurter Schule und die deutsche linke Protestbewegung: Diskurs- und Rezeptionsanalyse
The Critical Theory of the Frankfurt School and the German Leftist Protest Movement: A Discourse Analysis

Author(s): Martin Valenta
Subject(s): Social Sciences
Published by: Univerzita Karlova v Praze, Nakladatelství Karolinum
Keywords: critical theory; Frankfurt School; West-German leftist protest movement; 1960s; Neo-Marxism; receptive study; discourse analysis

Summary/Abstract: This study discusses the reception of the Frankfurt School’s critical theory by the leftist movement in West Germany of the 1960s. The paper begins with an introduction of the Frankfurt school and its main thinkers such as Adorno, Horkheimer, Marcuse and Fromm. Then it examines how the critical theory was received among individual segments of the leftist movement, which were represented by leftist magazines Das Argument und neue kritik, the movement’s key figures like Dutschke and Krahl, or various public groupings, among others Subversive Aktion, Kommune 1 and Kommune 2, as well as Critical University. It highlights the conflicts in their relationship that eventually led to rejection of the critical theory and its replacement by competing leftist theories.

  • Issue Year: X/2010
  • Issue No: 3-4
  • Page Range: 141-171
  • Page Count: 31
  • Language: German