The Long
Insurgency

Dossier · 1930–1937

Max Horkheimer

The director who made social research a project for changing society

Chronology

1930–1937

193019341937
3 dated events
  1. Horkheimer becomes Institute director Reported · Source 1, p. 36; PDF pp. 87–88
  2. Horkheimer gives his opening lecture Reported · Source 1, p. 38; PDF p. 91
  3. Traditional and Critical Theory appears Reported · Source 2, Essay title and bibliography, 1937 publication

Ideas

Critical theory and social change

In “Traditional and Critical Theory” (1937), Horkheimer argued that scholars worked within the society they studied. Research could help preserve that society or challenge its injustice. Critical theory aimed to change the social order. [2], pp. 196–208, 242–243

He argued that workers’ beliefs did not always reveal their real interests. Scholars could challenge workers or party leaders while still seeking freedom for them. That raises a question about authority: how can workers challenge a scholar who claims to know better? This is our assessment, with moderate confidence. [2], pp. 213–215

Horkheimer and Adorno later developed the culture-industry argument in Dialectic of Enlightenment. They argued that large entertainment businesses shaped thought and leisure. Their criticism concerned business power as well as cultural products. [3], pp. 94–97