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Social criticism

January 01, 1970

Social criticism is a form of academic or journalistic criticism focusing on social issues in contemporary society, in respect to perceived injustices and power relations in general.

Social criticism of the Enlightenment edit

The origin of modern social criticism go back at least to the Age of Enlightenment. According to the historian Jonathan Israel the roots of the radical enlightenment can be found in Spinoza and his circle.[1] Radical enlighteners like Jean Meslier were not satisfied with the social criticism of the time, which was essentially a criticism of religion. The focus of his criticism was the suffering of the peasants. In addition, there was also a criticism of civilization for religious reasons, such as that which emanated from the Quakers in England. Jean-Jacques Rousseau developed a social criticism in his political philosophy which influenced the French Revolution and in his pedagogy.

Academic forms edit

The positivism dispute between critical rationalism, e.g. between Karl Popper and the Frankfurt School,[2] dealt with the question of whether research in the social sciences should be "neutral" or consciously adopt a partisan view.

Academic works of social criticism can belong to social philosophy, political economy, sociology, social psychology, psychoanalysis but also cultural studies and other disciplines or reject academic forms of discourse.[3]

In literature and music edit

See also: Literary criticism

Social criticism can also be expressed in a fictional form, e.g. in a revolutionary novel like The Iron Heel (1908) by Jack London; in dystopian novels like Aldous Huxley's Brave New World (1932), George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 (1953), or Rafael Grugman's Nontraditional Love (2008); or in children's books or films.

Fictional literature can have a significant social impact. For example, the 1852 novel Uncle Tom's Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe furthered the anti-slavery movement in the United States, and the 1885 novel Ramona, by Helen Hunt Jackson, brought about changes in laws regarding Native Americans. Similarly, Upton Sinclair's 1906 novel The Jungle helped create new laws related to public health and food handling, and Arthur Morrison's 1896 novel A Child of the Jago caused England to change its housing laws. George Orwell and Charles Dickens wrote Animal Farm and A Tale of Two Cities, respectively, to express their disillusionment with society and human nature. Animal Farm, written in 1944, is a book that tells the animal fable of a farm in which the farm animals revolt against their human masters. It is an example of social criticism in literature in which Orwell satirized the events in Russia after the Bolshevik Revolution. He anthropomorphizes the animals, and alludes each one to a counterpart in Russian history. A Tale of Two Cities also typifies this kind of literature. Besides the central theme of love, is another prevalent theme, that of a revolution gone bad. He shows us that, unfortunately, human nature causes us to be vengeful and, for some of us, overly ambitious. Both these books are similar in that both describe how, even with the best of intentions, our ambitions get the best of us. Both authors also demonstrate that violence and the Machiavellian attitude of "the ends justifying the means" are deplorable. They also express their authors' disenchantment with the state of evolution of human nature.

According to Frederick Douglass, "Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe."[4]

The authors imply, that even if we begin with honourable intentions, there will be some who will let their basic instincts take control. Animal Farm portrays this nature through parodying events in real history. Given the right conditions, these events could happen anywhere. Take for example, a leader becoming overly ambitious, to the point of harming his people for more power.

In A Tale of Two Cities, Dickens examines the inner soul, and shares with us how people are driven to the valley of human emotions, where desperation and anger reign, and what could happen afterwards if we let these emotions build up inside. Every human being is capable of becoming a ruthless, opportunistic being like Napoleon or Madame Defarge, if placed in the right place, at the right time.

Social criticism is certainly present in opera (e.g. The Cradle Will Rock or Trouble in Tahiti) and other types of classical music, such as the Symphony No.13, called "Babi Yar", of Dmitri Shostakovich. Other musical expressions of social criticism are frequent in punk and rap music, examples being "Pretty Vacant" by Sex Pistols and "Brenda's Got a Baby" by 2Pac. Heavy metal and industrial rock bands such as Black Sabbath, Metallica, Marilyn Manson, Nine Inch Nails and Megadeth also use social criticism extensively, particularly in their earlier works.

Literature edit

Classical writings edit

Important contemporary works edit

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ Jonatahan Israel Radical Enlightenment: Philosophy and the Making of Modernity 1650-1750, Oxford University Press 2002
  2. ^ D'Amico, Robert (21 December 1990). "Karl Popper and the Frankfurt School". Telos. 1990 (86): 33–48. doi:10.3817/1290086033. ISSN 0090-6514. S2CID 147263662.
  3. ^ "Types of Literary Criticism".
  4. ^ From Douglass's speech in 1886 on the 24th anniversary of emancipation, Washington, D.C.

January 01, 1970
social, criticism, this, article, needs, additional, citations, verification, please, help, improve, this, article, adding, citations, reliable, sources, unsourced, material, challenged, removed, find, sources, news, newspapers, books, scholar, jstor, february. This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Social criticism news newspapers books scholar JSTOR February 2023 Learn how and when to remove this message Social criticism is a form of academic or journalistic criticism focusing on social issues in contemporary society in respect to perceived injustices and power relations in general Contents 1 Social criticism of the Enlightenment 2 Academic forms 3 In literature and music 4 Literature 4 1 Classical writings 4 2 Important contemporary works 5 See also 6 ReferencesSocial criticism of the Enlightenment editThe origin of modern social criticism go back at least to the Age of Enlightenment According to the historian Jonathan Israel the roots of the radical enlightenment can be found in Spinoza and his circle 1 Radical enlighteners like Jean Meslier were not satisfied with the social criticism of the time which was essentially a criticism of religion The focus of his criticism was the suffering of the peasants In addition there was also a criticism of civilization for religious reasons such as that which emanated from the Quakers in England Jean Jacques Rousseau developed a social criticism in his political philosophy which influenced the French Revolution and in his pedagogy Academic forms editThe positivism dispute between critical rationalism e g between Karl Popper and the Frankfurt School 2 dealt with the question of whether research in the social sciences should be neutral or consciously adopt a partisan view Academic works of social criticism can belong to social philosophy political economy sociology social psychology psychoanalysis but also cultural studies and other disciplines or reject academic forms of discourse 3 In literature and music editSee also Literary criticism Social criticism can also be expressed in a fictional form e g in a revolutionary novel like The Iron Heel 1908 by Jack London in dystopian novels like Aldous Huxley s Brave New World 1932 George Orwell s Nineteen Eighty Four 1949 Ray Bradbury s Fahrenheit 451 1953 or Rafael Grugman s Nontraditional Love 2008 or in children s books or films Fictional literature can have a significant social impact For example the 1852 novel Uncle Tom s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe furthered the anti slavery movement in the United States and the 1885 novel Ramona by Helen Hunt Jackson brought about changes in laws regarding Native Americans Similarly Upton Sinclair s 1906 novel The Jungle helped create new laws related to public health and food handling and Arthur Morrison s 1896 novel A Child of the Jago caused England to change its housing laws George Orwell and Charles Dickens wrote Animal Farm and A Tale of Two Cities respectively to express their disillusionment with society and human nature Animal Farm written in 1944 is a book that tells the animal fable of a farm in which the farm animals revolt against their human masters It is an example of social criticism in literature in which Orwell satirized the events in Russia after the Bolshevik Revolution He anthropomorphizes the animals and alludes each one to a counterpart in Russian history A Tale of Two Cities also typifies this kind of literature Besides the central theme of love is another prevalent theme that of a revolution gone bad He shows us that unfortunately human nature causes us to be vengeful and for some of us overly ambitious Both these books are similar in that both describe how even with the best of intentions our ambitions get the best of us Both authors also demonstrate that violence and the Machiavellian attitude of the ends justifying the means are deplorable They also express their authors disenchantment with the state of evolution of human nature According to Frederick Douglass Where justice is denied where poverty is enforced where ignorance prevails and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress rob and degrade them neither persons nor property will be safe 4 The authors imply that even if we begin with honourable intentions there will be some who will let their basic instincts take control Animal Farm portrays this nature through parodying events in real history Given the right conditions these events could happen anywhere Take for example a leader becoming overly ambitious to the point of harming his people for more power In A Tale of Two Cities Dickens examines the inner soul and shares with us how people are driven to the valley of human emotions where desperation and anger reign and what could happen afterwards if we let these emotions build up inside Every human being is capable of becoming a ruthless opportunistic being like Napoleon or Madame Defarge if placed in the right place at the right time Social criticism is certainly present in opera e g The Cradle Will Rock or Trouble in Tahiti and other types of classical music such as the Symphony No 13 called Babi Yar of Dmitri Shostakovich Other musical expressions of social criticism are frequent in punk and rap music examples being Pretty Vacant by Sex Pistols and Brenda s Got a Baby by 2Pac Heavy metal and industrial rock bands such as Black Sabbath Metallica Marilyn Manson Nine Inch Nails and Megadeth also use social criticism extensively particularly in their earlier works Literature editClassical writings edit Etienne de La Boetie Discourse on Voluntary Servitude circa 1560 Baruch de Spinoza Tractatus Theologico Politicus 1670 Immanuel Kant What Is Enlightenment 1784 Mary Wollstonecraft A Vindication of the Rights of Woman 1792 Karl Marx Das Kapital 1867 Mikhail Bakunin Statism and Anarchy 1873 Friedrich Nietzsche Untimely Meditations 1873 1876 Upton Sinclair The Jungle 1906 Walter Benjamin Zur Kritik der Gewalt In Archiv fur Sozialwissenschaften und Sozialpolitik 1921 engl Toward the Critique of Violence A Critical Edition Stanford University Press 2021 Georg Lukacs History and Class Consciousness 1923 Virginia Woolf A Room of One s Own 1929 Sigmund Freud Civilization and Its Discontents 1930 Max Horkheimer Traditional and Critical Theory 1937 Norbert Elias Uber den Prozess der Zivilisation 1939 engl The Civilizing Process Friedrich August von Hayek The Road to Serfdom 1944 Max Horkheimer Theodor W Adorno Dialektik der Aufklarung 1947 engl Dialectic of Enlightenment Simone de Beauvoir Le Deuxieme Sexe 1949 engl The Second Sex Aime Cesaire Discours sur le colonialisme 1950 engl Discourse on Colonialism Ernst Bloch Das Prinzip Hoffnung 1938 bis 1947 engl The Principle of Hope Erich Fromm The art of loving 1956 Milovan Đilas The New Class An Analysis of the Communist System 1957 Friedrich August von Hayek The Constitution of Liberty 1960 Frantz Fanon Les damnes de la terre engl The Wretched of the Earth Rachel Carson Silent Spring 1962 Herbert Marcuse One Dimensional Man 1964 Guy Debord La Societe du spectacle 1967 engl The Society of the Spectacle Louis Althusser Ideologie et appareils ideologiques d Etat published in La Pensee no 151 june 1970 engl Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses Michel Foucault Surveiller et punir Naissance de la prison 1975 engl Discipline and Punish Michel Foucault La volonte de savoir engl vol 1 of The History of Sexuality Cornelius Castoriadis L Institution imaginaire de la societe 1975 engl Imaginary Institution of Society Creativity and Autonomy in the Social historical World London Polity 1997 new edition Pierre Bourdieu La distinction Critique sociale du jugement 1979 engl Distinction A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste Important contemporary works edit Audre Lorde Sister Outsider 1984 Michel Henry La barbarie Bernard Grasset Paris 1987 engl Barbarism Continuum 2012 Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak Can the Subaltern Speak in Cary Nelson amp Lawrence Grossberg Hgg Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture University of Illinois Press Chicago 1988 Judith Butler Gender Trouble 1989 Monique Wittig The Straight Mind and other Essays 1992 Raewyn Connell Masculinities 1995 Richard Sennett The corrosion of character The Personal Consequences Of Work In the New Capitalism 1998 Noam Chomsky Manufacturing Consent 1988 Profit over people 2000 Gilbert Rist Le developpement Histoire d une croyance occidentale Presses de Sciences Po Paris 1996 engl The History of Development From Western Origins to Global Faith Zed Books London 2003 Arno Gruen The Insanity of Normality Understanding Human Destructiveness Human Development Books Berkeley 2007See also editCall out culture Critical Legal Studies Critical Race Theory Critique of political economy Cultural critic Feminism Marxism Postcolonialism Political CinemaReferences edit Jonatahan Israel Radical Enlightenment Philosophy and the Making of Modernity 1650 1750 Oxford University Press 2002 D Amico Robert 21 December 1990 Karl Popper and the Frankfurt School Telos 1990 86 33 48 doi 10 3817 1290086033 ISSN 0090 6514 S2CID 147263662 Types of Literary Criticism From Douglass s speech in 1886 on the 24th anniversary of emancipation Washington D C Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Social criticism amp oldid 1218290168, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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