Critical Theory and Frankfurt School PDF

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Critical Theory and Frankfurt School In every perspective contained in international relations certainly has its own assumptions. Thus, every perspective is always different in looking at a phenomenon in international relations. So looking at this reality, a lot of new perspectives have emerged in i...

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Critical Theory and Frankfurt School In every perspective contained in international relations certainly has its own assumptions. Thus, every perspective is always different in looking at a phenomenon in international relations. So by looking at this reality, a lot of new perspectives have emerged in international relations. One perspective that is relatively new is Critical Theory or Frankfurt School of Tought. In this journal the author will discuss more about Critical Theory or Frankfurt School of Tought. Frankfurt Critical Theory School of Tought was first born in Frankfurt, Germany in the mid 1980s (Steans et al., 2010). Named the Frankfurt School because it was born in Germany and the product of its thought is called Critical Theory. Jurgen Habermas, Walter Benjamin, Herbert Marcuse, Max Horkheimer are several figures or scientists from Frankfurt School. The thoughts of the Franfkfurt School are oriented or inherited thoughts from the enlightenment era (Wardhani, 2016). Such thinking is that this perspective seeks to free the human mindset that is shackled by the flow of information and knowledge that is deemed to have been constructed in such a way that often distorts the mind. This Critical Theory is the beginning of its birth influenced by the perspective of Marxism, so that the Critical Theory's thinking also focuses on liberation (emancipation). This theory also criticizes the perspective of Marxism, so it's no wonder this theory is influenced by Marxism (Wardhani, 2016). The difference between this theory and the Marxist perspective is that this Critical Theory does not merely look at gaps and exploitation in terms of class and economy, but this theory also finds the fact that disparities also occur in other aspects or sectors, such as gender and race (Steans et al., 2010: 126). This Critical Theory as a theory rooted in a philosophy of thought has the characteristic that this theory will always question the truth of the study of the phenomena that occur around us (Steans, et. All, 2005). The background to why this theory criticizes the Marxist perspective is because Marxism is considered incomplete in every assumption. Therefore this Critical Theory is present to try to complete the teachings from the perspective of Marxism. This Critical Theory has the assumption that in the presence of a theory it must be useful and able to change the mindset of humans from impotence. Then this theory also not only discusses the elimination of classes in society, but from the existence of a problem a theory or perspective is able to provide solutions to all existing problems.

Unlike the case with Steans (2005) which describes at least six points which in turn can be concluded as the basic assumptions of this theory. According to him, first is that Human nature is something that is formed by existing social conditions in a certain period of time, then the second is the world socio-political conditions that are determined by historical struggles between different social forces, then the third is that individuals can be grouped according to their interests each. Fourth that humans have the same interests as related to emancipation. Fifth that there are different types of knowledge types, the sixth which is also the last assumption is that the essence of emancipation is the achievement of a dialogue in communication and the absence of something that exceeds each other. Critical Theory sees people in this age too undocumented by what was then considered right. these overly coopted thoughts are expected to be freed from individual thinking at this time. Critical theory also carries a self-determination in which each individual is free to determine for himself how his life wants, and is free to issue and do what he thinks must be done. (Devetak in Burchill, 2001). After the above description of Critical Theory, it can be concluded that this theory is different from the theory of theory in other international relations. Then this theory is considered as a development from the perspective of Marxism which is considered to be less able to follow the increasingly complex dynamics of community development. This Critical Theory was developed in Frankfurt and has another name, Frankfurt School of Critical Theory. Then it can be seen that this Critical Theory criticizes that basically humans today are too fettered by mainstream or skeptic thinking in the world. Reference: Devetak, Richard, 2001. Critical Theory, in; Scott Burchill, et al, Theories of International Relations, Palgrave, pp. 155-180. Linklater, Andrew, 1996. The achievements of critical theory, in; Steve Smith, Ken Booth & Marysia Zalewski (eds.) International Theory: Positivism and Beyond, Cambridge University Press, pp. 279-300. Ritzer, G & Goodman, Douglas J. (2004) Sociological Theory: Karl Marx and Varieties of Neo-Marxian Theory, New York City: McGraw-Hill. pp. 103 – 120

Steans, Jill and Pettiford, Lloyd & Diez, Thomas, 2005. Introduction to International Relations, Perspectives & Themes, 2nd edition, Pearson & Longman, Chap. 4, pp. 103128. Wardhani, Ani. 2016. Frankfurt School of Tought: Critical Theory. Materi disampaikan pada perkuliahan Teori Hubungan Internasional, Departemen Hubungan Internasional, Universitas Airlangga. 14 April 2016....