ABSTRACT
This chapter considers how critical theory understands modern society, showing how, while influenced by Marx and his analyses and criticisms of capitalism, critical theory moves beyond Marx because capitalism and the world itself moved beyond Marx’s time. The notion of “reification” is introduced in this chapter to show how the Frankfurt School sees modern society as “totalizing” in its effects, affecting every aspect of human life, from the sort of objective conditions we exist in, to the sort of subjective perceptions and experiences we have of such objective conditions. It concludes by considering what sort of political possibilities still can or cannot exist in such a totalizing world, returning once again to the possibility of maturity or autonomy, now considered in the sort of depth that the conclusion to the last chapter suggested was necessary. Central figures and topics discussed are commodity exchange, commodity fetishism, Marx, Weber, Adorno, Horkheimer, Polyani, economic development through history, labor, value, Smith, Lukács, Husserl, Lask, Sohn-Rethel, technology, dialectic of enlightenment, Pokémon, reification, Cedric Robinson, race, feudalism, state capitalism, Nazism, culture industry, free time, politics, Marcuse, authoritarianism, fascism, propaganda, anxiety, maturity, and autonomy.
