Books

A Critical Theory of Social Domination  Marxism, The Frankfurt School, and the Critique of Capitalism

2027

Bloomsbury Academic Publishing

A Critical Theory of Societal Domination offers a major reinterpretation of Frankfurt School Critical Theory and its relation to Marx's critique of political economy. Challenging the dominant Anglophone narrative that portrays early Horkheimer and late Adorno as pessimistic cultural critics superseded by Habermasian theory or contemporary “Marxism as Critical Theory,” Chris O'Kane reconstructs their work as the foundation of a distinctive, heterodox Marxian critical theory of capitalist social domination.

At the centre of the book is the argument that Horkheimer and Adorno developed an immanent, self-reflexive critique of capitalism grounded in Marx's critique of political economy. Far from abandoning political economy or praxis, their critical theory understands capitalist society as a historically specific concrete negative totality in which economy, state, culture, family, and subjectivity are internally mediated by the exchange relation. Capitalist domination is thus conceived not as an external force imposed on otherwise emancipatory social spheres, but as a form of objective and subjective domination reproduced through free and equal capitalist social practice itself.

Moreover the book challenges the view that Horkheimer and Adorno's critical theory was superseded, underlining their influence on the twentieth century's resurgence in Marxian thought by mapping their influence on the work of Alfred Schmidt, Hans-Georg Backhaus, Helmut Rechelt, Moishe Postone and Werner Bonefeld – all thinkers who critically developed this approach into an active research programme in critical theory.

Finally, O'Kane outlines this further development of the critical theory of capitalist social domination and demonstrates its central importance for a critical theory of capitalism today by drawing thon the work of these figures and other contemporary critical theorists.

Social Constitution and Fetishistic Social Domination in Marx, Lukács, Adorno, and Lefebvre

2026

Brill

The Marxian theory of fetishism is usually interpreted as a theory of false consciousness, alienation, or reification pertaining to commodities or culture. This book reconstructs how Marx, Lukács, Adorno, and Lefebvre interpret and use the theory of the fetish to explain how capitalist social relations create a supra-individual, autonomous, and inverted form of social domination. These relations transform individuals into bearers of domination, thereby perpetuating capitalist society. The resulting reinterpretations of their respective social theories, and of the theory of the fetish, are crucial for a critical theory of capitalism today. 

Adorno and Marx  Negative Dialectics and the Critique of Political Economy

2024

Bloomsbury Academic Publishing

Edited by Werner Bonefeld & Chris O’Kane

While Adorno has tended to be read as a critic of the administered world and the consumer industry rather than a Marxist, Adorno and Marx establishes Adorno's negative dialectics as fundamental for understanding Marx's critique of political economy. This conception of the critique of political economy as a critical theory marks both a radical departure from traditional Marxist scholarship and from traditional readings of Adorno's work and warns against identifying Adorno with Marx or Marx with Adorno. Rather, it highlights the intersection between Adorno's critical theory and Marx's critique of political economy that produces a critical theory of economic objectivity that moves beyond Marxian economics and Adornonian social theory.

Adorno and Marx offers an ingenious account of critical social theory. Its subversion of the economic categories of political economy contributes to the cutting-edge of contemporary social theory and its critique of social practice. 

The SAGE handbook of Frankfurt school critical theory

2018

SAGE Publications Ltd.

Edited by Beverley Best, Werner Bonefeld & Chris O’Kane

The SAGE Handbook of Frankfurt School Critical Theory expounds the development of critical theory from its founding thinkers to its contemporary formulations in an interdisciplinary setting. It maps the terrain of a critical social theory, expounding its distinctive character vis-a-vis alternative theoretical perspectives, exploring its theoretical foundations and developments, conceptualising its subject matters both past and present, and signalling its possible future in a time of great uncertainty. Taking a distinctively theoretical, interdisciplinary, international and contemporary perspective on the topic, this wide-ranging collection of chapters is arranged thematically over three volumes: Volume I: Key Texts and Contributions to a Critical Theory of Society Volume II: Themes Volume III: Contexts This Handbook is essential reading for scholars and students in the field, showcasing the scholarly rigor, intellectual acuteness and negative force of critical social theory, past and present.