THEORY AND PRACTICE OF MODERN CRITICISM (About the Book “A Time for Critique”)

Abstract

The book “A Time for Critique” (2019. ed. B.E. Harcourt, D. Fassin. New York: Columbia University Press) deals with the current state of critical theory and its practical application in the political and public spheres. The space of criticism is narrowing. This weakness is connected with the fears critical thinkers have regarding mass movement and class struggles, with how impotent criticism is against the background of the weakening of liberal ideology and the strengthening of the right-wings in politics and public life, and with the triumph of positivism in the academic environment, which is understood as the self-worth of a fact to the detriment of its critical thinking. Nevertheless, the authors call for updating and promoting the program of critical social theory. The grounds for optimism are the emergence (under pressure from the external environment) of new forms of critical thinking and activities within the academic sphere, and the emergence of new forms of critical intervention in the form of social movements and other methods of civil society’s self-organization outside the academic schools.