Introduction

A dramatic shift in the identity of social theory has materialized in the course of the last two decades, although the origins of this sea change can be traced to the decades before. Abandoning foundationalism does not mean abandoning abstract and generalized thinking, systematic empirical research, or arguments about social truths. This chapter highlights the break from scientific theory. This means more than going beyond disciplinary boundaries and arguing in an explicitly normative way; the new theory has abandoned the limiting constraints of the foundational traditions themselves. Critical theory began as an effort to revise Marxism in the face of the flourishing of subjectively orientated thinking at the beginning of the twentieth century. Saussure's semiotics or Levi-Strauss's 'structuralism' marked one of the highest achievements of this voyage of cultural discovery.