ABSTRACT
The modern use of the term 'critical theory' can be traced back to M. Horkheimer's 1937 description of the work he and others undertook as part of the 'Frankfurt School' Institute for Social Research. This had intellectual roots in German philosophy, particularly the work of Kant and Hegel. Utilising the ideas of Karl Marx, he intended critical theory to be a method of cultural analysis. Modern interpretations of critical theory are often unhelpfully understood as any approach seeking to theorise the social sciences and humanities. Such understandings can depart from the idea of critical theory as developed by the Frankfurt School and Horkheimer's rules for its usages. In essence, critical theory identifies and describes what is perceived to be wrong with society: social conflict theories such as Marxism, for example, suggest that schools help to reinforce and replicate social divisions in society.
