Introduction

Critical theory offers a multidisciplinary approach to society which combines perspectives drawn from political economy, sociology, cultural theory, philosophy, anthropology, and history. It overcomes the fragmentation endemic to established academic disciplines in order to address issues of broader interest. Fundamentally inspired by the dialectical tradition of Hegel and Marx, critical theory is open to development and revision. Against all relativistic and nihilistic excesses, critical theory seeks an emancipatory alternative to the existing order. The distance between Jürgen Habermas's work and that of the first generation of critical theorists points to the increasing heterogeneity of the Frankfurt School and the significant differences within critical theory. Dialectic of Enlightenment thus represents a shift away from interdisciplinary social theory to philosophy and cultural criticism, around which much of critical theory would center. T. W. Adorno's article therefore also embodies critical theory's claim that authentic art provides both a form of opposition to the established society and a Utopian mode of reconciliation with nature.