Eddie Waldrep makes some excellent points here, and is correct in asserting that the APA has largely been captured by Critical Social Justice Theory, of which Critical Race Theory is a part. What he leaves out of his analysis is the pivotal role that postmodernism played in catalyzing the emergence of CSRT, and the fact that postmodernis…
Eddie Waldrep makes some excellent points here, and is correct in asserting that the APA has largely been captured by Critical Social Justice Theory, of which Critical Race Theory is a part. What he leaves out of his analysis is the pivotal role that postmodernism played in catalyzing the emergence of CSRT, and the fact that postmodernism and Marxism/historical materialism furnish us with incommensurable perspectives on contemporary society. Postmodernism rejects universalism. Marxism does not. (Don't believe me? Ask a Marxist).
Also, for the sake of clarity, permit me to point out that both critics and adherents of CSJT are apt to buy into a false narrative which claims that Marxism begat Critical Theory, which begat postmodernism, which begat Critical Social Justice Theory. Not so. In truth, critical theory - a term coined by Max Horkheimer in 1930 - is an interdisciplinary approach to social science characteristic of the Frankfurt School; one that was influenced by philosophers like Kant a Hegel and by Marx, Weber and Freud. Critical theorists (myself included) are extremely critical of postmodernism, and by implication, of CSJT.
For a recent discussion of these ideas and trends, see "Critical Theory, Left-Wing Authoritarianism and Anti-Semitism" and "Mapping the White Unconscious: Critical Race Theory, Whiteness Studies and Psychoanalysis" in Critical Theory and Psycholanalysis: From the Frankfurt School to Contemporary Critique, edited by Jon Mills and Daniel Burston (London: Routledge, 2023
Thank you for the clarification. It's not a technical detail of interest to academics only. Unless I'm mistaken, figures such as the crackpot gadfly James Linsday are making a living by harping on the supposed connection between Marxism and Critical Theory. Once a somewhat sensible critic of progressive excesses, Lindsay now sees Commies under every bed, stationed there by the proponents of cultural Marxism. MAGA people don't need reasons to come up with falsehoods, but figures such as Lindsay are fueling the Republican Party's campaign of red-baiting.
Yes, sadly James Lindsay has followed a strange trajectory, becoming a strong Trump supporter in the process. His early work was good, as in the "Sokal Squared" hoax and in his book co-authored with Helen Pluckrose, "Cynical Theories", but he has identified with the extreme Right and makes anti-Wokism the be-all and end-all of his position, even tolerating if not supporting Putinism.
Eddie Waldrep makes some excellent points here, and is correct in asserting that the APA has largely been captured by Critical Social Justice Theory, of which Critical Race Theory is a part. What he leaves out of his analysis is the pivotal role that postmodernism played in catalyzing the emergence of CSRT, and the fact that postmodernism and Marxism/historical materialism furnish us with incommensurable perspectives on contemporary society. Postmodernism rejects universalism. Marxism does not. (Don't believe me? Ask a Marxist).
Also, for the sake of clarity, permit me to point out that both critics and adherents of CSJT are apt to buy into a false narrative which claims that Marxism begat Critical Theory, which begat postmodernism, which begat Critical Social Justice Theory. Not so. In truth, critical theory - a term coined by Max Horkheimer in 1930 - is an interdisciplinary approach to social science characteristic of the Frankfurt School; one that was influenced by philosophers like Kant a Hegel and by Marx, Weber and Freud. Critical theorists (myself included) are extremely critical of postmodernism, and by implication, of CSJT.
For a recent discussion of these ideas and trends, see "Critical Theory, Left-Wing Authoritarianism and Anti-Semitism" and "Mapping the White Unconscious: Critical Race Theory, Whiteness Studies and Psychoanalysis" in Critical Theory and Psycholanalysis: From the Frankfurt School to Contemporary Critique, edited by Jon Mills and Daniel Burston (London: Routledge, 2023
Thank you for the clarification. It's not a technical detail of interest to academics only. Unless I'm mistaken, figures such as the crackpot gadfly James Linsday are making a living by harping on the supposed connection between Marxism and Critical Theory. Once a somewhat sensible critic of progressive excesses, Lindsay now sees Commies under every bed, stationed there by the proponents of cultural Marxism. MAGA people don't need reasons to come up with falsehoods, but figures such as Lindsay are fueling the Republican Party's campaign of red-baiting.
Yes, sadly James Lindsay has followed a strange trajectory, becoming a strong Trump supporter in the process. His early work was good, as in the "Sokal Squared" hoax and in his book co-authored with Helen Pluckrose, "Cynical Theories", but he has identified with the extreme Right and makes anti-Wokism the be-all and end-all of his position, even tolerating if not supporting Putinism.