Social criticism analyzes (problematic) social structures and aims at practical solutions by specific measures, radical reform or even revolutionary change. For an explanation of concepts existence within US society, see Social structure of the United States. ... Look up reform in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... For other uses, see Revolution (disambiguation). ...

About

The starting points of social criticism can be very different and the different forms of Socialism (Marxism, Anarchism, etc.) never had a monopoly on Social Criticism. The starting point can be the experience of a minority within society generally (e.g. gay people) or even the experience of a group of people within a progressive social movement which does not live up to its progressive agenda in every respect. Women in the New Left were often dissatisfied with the sexist attitudes of their male counterparts and many of them engaged in second wave feminism, women in the Chicano movement where enraged by similar attitudes and created Chicana feminism. Within (or after ) postmodernism a grand unifying theory no longer seems possible. This does not exclude the possiblity nor the necessity of dialogue. Nevertheless most social critics still consider the Critique of capitalism to be central. Socialism refers to a broad array of doctrines or political movements that envisage a socio-economic system in which property and the distribution of wealth are subject to control by the community[1] for the purposes of increasing social and economic equality and cooperation. ... Marxism is both the theory and the political practice (that is, the praxis) derived from the work of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ... Anarchist redirects here. ... The definition of a minority group can vary, depending on specific context, but generally refers to either a sociological sub-group that does not form either a majority or a plurality of the total population, or a group that, while not necessarily a numerical minority, is disadvantaged or otherwise has... Look up Experience in Wiktionary, the free dictionary This article discusses the general concept of experience. ... American Civil Rights Movement is one of the most famous social movements of the 20th century. ... The New Left is a term used in different countries to describe left-wing movements that occurred in the 1960s and 1970s. ... Second-wave feminism refers to a period of feminist thought that originated around the 1960s and was mainly concerned with independence and greater political action to improve womens rights. ... The Chicano Movement, also called the Chicano Civil Rights Movement, the Mexican-American Civil Rights Movement, and El Movimiento, is the part of the American Civil Rights Movement that searched for social liberation and power for Mexican Americans. ... Chicana feminism, also called Xicanisma, is a group of social theories that analyze and historical, social, political, and economic roles and of Mexican American, Chicana, and Hispanic women in the United States, especially as they concern issues of gender. ... Postmodernism is a term applied to a wide-ranging set of developments in critical theory, philosophy, architecture, art, literature, and culture, which are generally characterized as either emerging from, in reaction to, or superseding, modernism. ... For other uses, see Dialogue (disambiguation). ... An anti-capitalist poster printed by the Industrial Workers of the World in 1911. ...

Academic forms of social criticism

The dispute between critical rationalism (e.g. Karl Popper and the Frankfurt School) exemplified the principal problem whether the research in the social sciences should pretend to be 'neutral' or 'objective' or consciously adopt a necessarily partisan view. Critical rationalism is an epistemological philosophy advanced by Karl Raimund Popper, which is a logical generalization of his approach to science, falsificationism. ... Sir Karl Raimund Popper CH FRS FBA (July 28, 1902 â€“ September 17, 1994) was an Austrian and British[1] philosopher and a professor at the London School of Economics. ... Max Horkheimer (front left), Theodor Adorno (front right), and Jürgen Habermas in the background, right, in 1965 at Heidelberg The Frankfurt School is a school of neo-Marxist social theory (which is more akin to anarchism than communism), social research, and philosophy. ... The social sciences are a group of academic disciplines that study human aspects of the world. ...

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. Social philosophy is the philosophical study of interesting questions about social behavior (typically, of humans). ... The Politics series Politics Portal This box:      Political economy was the original term for the study of production, the acts of buying and selling, and their relationships to laws, customs and government. ... Sociology (from Latin: socius, companion; and the suffix -ology, the study of, from Greek λόγος, lógos, knowledge [1]) is the systematic and scientific study of society, including patterns of social relationships, social action, and culture[2]. Areas studied in sociology can range from the analysis of brief contacts between anonymous... The scope of social psychological research. ... Today psychoanalysis comprises several interlocking theories concerning the functioning of the mind. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... Discourse is a term used in semantics as in discourse analysis, but it also refers to a social conception of discourse, often linked with the work of French philosopher Michel Foucault (1926-1984) and Jürgen Habermas The Theory of Communicative Action (1985). ...

Social criticism in literature and music

Social criticism can also be expressed in a fictional form, e.g. in a revolutionary novel like Under the iron heel by Jack London or in dystopian novels like Aldous Huxley's Brave New World (1932) or George Orwell's (Nineteen Eighty-Four) (1949) or Ray Bradburys Fahrenheit 451 (1953), children's books or films. For other persons named Jack London, see Jack London (disambiguation). ... This article is about the philosophical concept and literary form. ... This article is about the literary concept. ... Aldous Leonard Huxley (July 26, 1894 – November 22, 1963) was an English writer and one of the most prominent members of the famous Huxley family. ... For other uses, see Brave New World (disambiguation). ... Year 1932 (MCMXXXII) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link will display full 1932 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 [1] [2] – 21 January 1950), better known by the pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist. ... This article is about the Orwell novel. ... Year 1949 (MCMXLIX) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Ray Douglas Bradbury (born August 22, 1920) is an American literary, fantasy, horror, science fiction, and mystery writer best known for The Martian Chronicles, a 1950 book which has been described both as a short story collection and a novel, and his 1953 dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451, is widely considered... This article is about the novel. ... January 7 - President Harry S. Truman announces the United States has developed a hydrogen bomb. ... Basic Characteristics There is some debate as to what constitutes childrens literature. ...

Fictional literature can have a significant social impact. "For example, the 1852 novel Uncle Tom's Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe furthered the antislavery 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." ^[1] 1852 was a leap year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... Harriet Elizabeth Beecher Stowe. ... This French poster depicting the horrific conditions on slave ships was influential in mobilizing public opinion against slavery. ... 1885 (MDCCCLXXXV) is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... Ramona is a novel written by Helen Hunt Jackson and published in 1884. ... Helen Maria Hunt Jackson (October 18, 1831-August 12, 1885) was an American writer. ... This article is about the people indigenous to the United States. ... Upton Sinclair Jr. ... Arthur Morrison was a famous author during 19th century England Arthur George Morrison (1863-1945) was an English author and journalist, known for his realistic novels about Londons East End and for his detective stories. ...

Musical expressions of social criticism are very frequent in punk music. Punk rock is an anti-establishment music movement beginning around 1976 (although precursors can be found several years earlier), exemplified and popularised by The Ramones, the Sex Pistols, The Clash and The Damned. ...

Classical works

Among the classical works are:

• Étienne de La Boétie: Discourse on Voluntary Servitude (circa 1560)
• Immanuel Kant: "On the question, what is enlightenment?" (1784)
• Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, (1792)
• Karl Marx, The Communist Manifesto (1848)
• Karl Marx: Capital (1867)
• Mikhail Bakunin, Statism and Anarchy (1873)
• Walter Benjamin: Critique of Violence (1921)
• Georg Lukács: History and Class Consciousness (1923)
• Virginia Woolf: A Room of One's Own (1929)
• Sigmund Freud: Civilization and Its Discontents (1930)
• Henry Miller: The Air-Conditioned Nightmare (1945)
• Max Horkheimer/Theodor W. Adorno: Dialectic of Enlightenment (1947)
• Simone de Beauvoir: The Second Sex (1949)
• Aimé Césaire, Discourse on colonialism (1950)
• Frantz Fanon: The Wretched of the Earth (1961)
• Rachel Carson: Silent Spring (1962)
• Herbert Marcuse: One-Dimensional Man (1964)
• Guy Debord: The Society of the Spectacle (1967)
• Harry Braverman: Labor and Monopoly Capital: The Degradation of Work in the Twentieth Century (1974)
• Michel Foucault: Discipline and Punish (1975)
• Cornelius Castoriadis: The Imaginary Institution of Society (1975)
• Joseph Weizenbaum: Computer Power and Human Reason (1976)
• Howard Zinn: A People's History of the United States (1980)

and many of the writings of Pierre Bourdieu Étienne de La Boétie (Sarlat, November 1st, 1530 - Germignan, August 18, 1563) was a French judge and writer, friend of Montaigne, author of the Discourse of Voluntary Servitude (Discours de la servitude volontaire). ... Kant redirects here. ... Mary Wollstonecraft (circa 1797) by John Opie Mary Wollstonecraft (27 April 1759 – 10 September 1797) was a British writer, philosopher and feminist. ... Mary Wollstonecraft. ... Karl Heinrich Marx (May 5, 1818 – March 14, 1883) was a 19th century philosopher, political economist, and revolutionary. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Das Kapital (Capital, in the English translation) is an extensive treatise on political economy written by Karl Marx in German. ... Mikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin (Russian: Михаил Александрович Бакунин, Michel Bakunin on the grave in Bern), (May 18 (30 N.S.), 1814 – June 19 (July 1 N.S.), 1876) was a well-known Russian revolutionary, and often considered one of the “fathers of modern anarchism. Born in the Russian Empire to a family of Russian... Walter Bendix Schönflies Benjamin (July 15, 1892 – September 27, 1940) was a German Marxist literary critic, essayist, translator, and philosopher. ... Georg Lukács (April 13, 1885 – June 4, 1971) was a Hungarian Marxist philosopher and literary critic in the tradition of Western Marxism. ... For the American writer, see Virginia Euwer Wolff. ... A Room of Ones Own is an extended essay by Virginia Woolf. ... Sigmund Freud (IPA: ), born Sigismund Schlomo Freud (May 6, 1856 – September 23, 1939), was an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist who founded the psychoanalytic school of psychology. ... Civilization and Its Discontents is a book by Sigmund Freud. ... Henry Miller photo taken by Carl Van Vechten, 1940 Henry Valentine Miller (December 26, 1891 – June 7, 1980) was an American writer and, to a lesser extent, painter. ... Max Horkheimer (front left), Theodor Adorno (front right), and Jürgen Habermas in the background, right, in 1965 at Heidelberg Max Horkheimer (February 14, 1895 – July 7, 1973) was a Jewish-German philosopher and sociologist, known especially as the founder and guiding thinker of the Frankfurt School of critical theory. ... Theodor Ludwig Wiesengrund Adorno (September 11, 1903 – August 6, 1969) was a German sociologist, philosopher, pianist, musicologist, and composer. ... Dialectic of Enlightenment, written by Max Horkheimer and Theodor W. Adorno made its first appearance in 1944 under the title Dialektik der Aufklärung by Social Studies Association, Inc. ... La Beauvoir redirects here; also see: Beauvoir (disambiguation). ... The Second Sex (French: Le Deuxième Sexe, 1949) is the best known work of Simone de Beauvoir and a seminal text in twentieth-century feminism. ... Aimé Fernand David Césaire (born June 25, 1913) is a French poet, author and politician. ... Year 1950 (MCML) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Frantz Fanon (July 20, 1925 – December 6, 1961) was a French author from Martinique, essayist, psychoanalyst, and revolutionary. ... The Wretched of the Earth (French: Les Damnés de la Terre, first published 1961) is Frantz Fanons most famous work, written during and regarding the Algerian struggle for independence from colonial rule. ... Rachel Louise Carson (May 27, 1907 – April 14, 1964) was an American marine biologist and nature writer whose writings are often credited with launching the global environmental movement. ... Silent Spring is a book written by Rachel Carson and published by Houghton Mifflin in September 1961. ... Herbert Marcuse (July 19, 1898 – July 29, 1979) was a German-born philosopher, sociologist and a member of the Frankfurt School. ... One-Dimensional Man is a work by Herbert Marcuse, first published in 1964. ... Guy Ernest Debord (December 28, 1931, in Paris – November 30, 1994, in Champot) was a writer, film maker, hypergraphist and founding member of the groups Lettrist International and Situationist International (SI). ... The Society of the Spectacle (La Société du spectacle) is a work of philosophy first published in 1967 by the Situationist and Marxist theorist, Guy Debord. ... Harry Braverman (1920 – 1976) was an American Communist and political writer. ... Michel Foucault (IPA pronunciation: ) (October 15, 1926 – June 25, 1984) was a French philosopher, historian and sociologist. ... Discipline and Punish (subtitled The Birth of the Prison) is a book written by the philosopher Michel Foucault. ... Cornelius Castoriadis (Greek: Κορνήλιος Καστοριάδης) (March 11, 1922-December 26, 1997) was a Greek-French philosopher, economist and psychoanalyst. ... Joseph Weizenbaum. ... Joseph Weizenbaums influential 1976 book Computer Power and Human Reason: From Judgment To Computation (San Francisco: W. H. Freeman, 1976; ISBN 0716704633) displays his ambivalence towards computer technology and lays out his case: while Artificial Intelligence may be possible, we should never allow computers to make important decisions because... Howard Zinn (born August 24, 1922) is an American historian, political scientist, social critic, activist and playwright, best known as author of the bestseller, A Peoples History of the United States. ... A Peoples History of the United States, 2003 hardcover edition A Peoples History of the United States is a nonfiction book by American historian and political scientist Howard Zinn, in which he seeks to present American history through the eyes of groups he says are rarely heard in... Pierre Bourdieu (August 1, 1930 â€“ January 23, 2002) was an acclaimed French sociologist whose work employed methods drawn from a wide range of disciplines: from philosophy and literary theory to sociology and anthropology. ...

Contemporary authors

• Judith Butler, Gender Trouble (1989)
• Giannina Braschi, "Yo-Yo Boing!" (1998)
• Raewyn Connell, Masculinities (1995)
• Noam Chomsky: Manufacturing Consent (1988), Profit over people (2000)
• Simon Head: The New Ruthless Economy. Work and Power in the Digital Age, Oxford UP 2005
• Gilbert Rist, The History of Development: From Western Origins to Global Faith, Expanded Edition, London: Zed Books, 2003

Image:J Butler. ... Gender Trouble is a 1990 book by Judith Butler that is highly influential in academic feminism and queer theory. ... Cutting-edge poet and novelist Giannina Braschi (b. ... Raewyn Connell (formerly Robert William Connell, born January 3, 1944) is an Australian social scientist known for her work in the disciplines of sociology, education, gender studies, political science and history. ... Avram Noam Chomsky (Hebrew: אברם נועם חומסקי Yiddish: אברם נועם כאמסקי) (born December 7, 1928) is an American linguist, philosopher, political activist, author, and lecturer. ... Gilbert Rist is a professor at the institut universitaire détudes du développement (graduate institute of development studies) in Geneva. ...

References

• Patricia D. Netzley (1999), Social Protest Literature. An Encyclopedia of Works, Characters, Authors and Themes, Santa Barbara, Denver, Oxford: ABC-Clio, 1999

Sources

1. ^ Netzley 1999: xiii

See also

• Ableism
• African Cinema, African American literature
• Adultism, Ageism, Children's rights movement
• Antisemitism
• class struggle, council communism, Labour movement, exploitation
• Biopolitics
• Critical pedagogy, Sociology of education
• Critique of technology, Development criticism
• Eurocentrism
• Feminism, Women's movement, Women's studies,Women's Cinema
• Ideology, Criticism of religion, Critique of capitalism, Critique of technology
• Imperialism, Militarism, Nationalism
• Hegemonic masculinity, Heterosexism, Homophobia
• LGBT social movements
• Anarchism, Surrealism, Situationist International
• New social movements
• Pamphlet, Satire, Utopian and dystopian fiction
• Political Cinema, Political theatre
• Post-structuralism, Critical Theory
• Colonialism, Anticolonialism, Neocolonialism, Post-Colonialism
• Racism, Racism in the United States, Antiracism
• Sexism
• Whiteness studies

Ableism is a term used to describe discrimination against people with disabilities in favor of people who are able-bodied. ... The term African cinema usually refers to the film production in countries in Sub-Saharan Africa following formal independence, which for many countries happened in the 1960s. ... The Color Purple by Alice Walker African American literature is the body of literature produced in the United States by writers of African descent. ... Adultism is a predisposition towards adults, which some see as biased against children, youth, and all young people who arent addressed or viewed as adults. ... This box:      Look up ageism in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Manifestations Slavery · Racial profiling · Lynching Hate speech · Hate crime · Hate groups Genocide · Holocaust · Pogrom Ethnocide · Ethnic cleansing · Race war Religious persecution · Gay bashing Movements Discriminatory Aryanism · Neo-Nazism · Supremacism Fundamentalism · Kahanism Anti-discriminatory Abolitionism · Civil rights · Gay rights Womens/Universal suffrage · Mens rights Childrens rights · Youth rights... Manifestations Slavery Racial profiling Lynching Hate speech Hate crime Genocide (examples) Ethnocide Ethnic cleansing Pogrom Race war Religious persecution Gay bashing Blood libel Paternalism Police brutality Movements Policies Discriminatory Race / Religion / Sex segregation Apartheid Redlining Internment Anti-discriminatory Emancipation Civil rights Desegregation Integration Equal opportunity Counter-discriminatory Affirmative action Racial... The South African Police Crush Another Demonstration by the Shack dwellers Movement Abahlali baseMjondolo, 28 September, 2007 Class struggle is the active expression of class conflict looked at from any kind of socialist perspective. ... Council communism is a Radical Left movement originating in Germany and the Netherlands in the 1920s. ... The labour movement or labor movement is a broad term for the development of a collective organization of working people, to campaign in their own interest for better treatment from their employers and political governments, in particular through the implementation of specific laws governing labor relations. ... Exploitation means many different things. ... A neologism invented by Michel Foucault, the term Biopolitics or Biopolitical can refer to several different yet not incompatible concepts: In the work of Michel Foucault, the style of government that regulates populations through biopower. ... Critical pedagogy is a teaching approach which attempts to help students question and challenge domination, and the beliefs and practices that dominate. ... The sociology of education is the study of how social institutions and individual experiences affect educational processes and outcomes. ... Critique of technology is a theory which critizes technology for its negative impact under capitalist conditions (as means of domination, control and exploitation), or more generally as something which threatens the very survival of humanity. ... Development criticism refers to far-reaching criticisms of modernization and its central aspects : modern technology, industrialization, capitalism and economic globalization . ... Eurocentrism is the practice, conscious or otherwise, of placing emphasis on European (and, generally, Western) concerns, culture and values at the expense of those of other cultures. ... Feminists redirects here. ... Suffrage parade in New York City on May 6, 1912 The Feminist movement (also known as the Womens Movement and Womens Liberation) campaigns on issues such as reproductive rights, domestic violence, maternity leave, equal pay, sexual harassment, discrimination and sexual violence. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... The term womens cinema usually refers to the work of women film directors. ... Political Ideologies Part of the Politics series Politics Portal This box:      An ideology is an organized collection of ideas. ... The criticism of religion includes criticism of the concept of religion, the validity of religion, the practice of religion, and the consequences of religion for humanity. ... An anti-capitalist poster printed by the Industrial Workers of the World in 1911. ... Critique of technology is a theory which critizes technology for its negative impact under capitalist conditions (as means of domination, control and exploitation), or more generally as something which threatens the very survival of humanity. ... Cecil Rhodes: Cape-Cairo railway project. ... Militarism or militarist ideology is the doctrinal view of a society as being best served (or more efficient) when it is governed or guided by concepts embodied in the culture, doctrine, system, or people of the military. ... Eugène Delacroixs Liberty Leading the People, symbolising French nationalism during the July Revolution 1830. ... Hegemonic masculinity is the normative ideal of masculinity that men are supposed to aim for and women are supposed to want. ... Heterosexism is the presumption that everyone is straight or heterosexual (i. ... A protest by The Westboro Baptist Church, a group identified by the Anti-Defamation League as virulently homophobic. ... LGBT rights Around the world By country History · Groups · Activists Declaration of Montreal Same-sex relationships Marriage · Adoption Opposition · Discrimination Violence This box:      LGBT social movements share related goals of social acceptance of homosexuality, bisexuality, or transgenderism. ... Anarchist redirects here. ... Max Ernst. ... The Situationist International (SI) was a small group of international political and artistic agitators with roots in Marxism, Lettrism and the early 20th century European artistic and political avant-gardes. ... The term new social movements (NSM) refers to a plethora of social movements that have come up in various western societies roughly since the mid-1960s (i. ... Polish soldiers reading a German leaflet during the Warsaw Uprising A pamphlet is an unbound booklet (that is, without a hard cover or binding). ... 1867 edition of Punch, a ground-breaking British magazine of popular humour, including a good deal of satire of the contemporary social and political scene. ... Utopian fiction is the creation of an ideal world as the setting for a novel. ... Political Cinema in the narrow sense of the term is a cinema which portrays current or historical events or social conditions in a partisan way in order to inform or to agitate the spectator. ... . ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... In the humanities and social sciences, critical theory has two quite different meanings with different origins and histories, one originating in social theory and the other in literary criticism. ... It has been suggested that Benign colonialism be merged into this article or section. ... Anti-imperialism, strictly speaking, is a term that may be applied to any idea or movement opposed to some form of imperialism. ... Neocolonialism is the term describing international economic arrangements wherein former colonial powers maintained control of colonies and dependencies after World War II. Neocolonialism can obfuscate the understanding of current colonialism, given that some colonial governments continue administrating foreign territories and their populations in violation of United Nations resolutions[1] and... This article is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... Manifestations Slavery Racial profiling Lynching Hate speech Hate crime Genocide (examples) Ethnocide Ethnic cleansing Pogrom Race war Religious persecution Gay bashing Blood libel Paternalism Police brutality Movements Policies Discriminatory Race / Religion / Sex segregation Apartheid Redlining Internment Anti-discriminatory Emancipation Civil rights Desegregation Integration Equal opportunity Counter-discriminatory Affirmative action Racial... Racism in the United States has been a major issue in America since the colonial era. ... Anti-racism refers to beliefs, actions, movements, and policies adopted or developed to oppose racism. ... This box:      The sign of the headquarters of the National Association Opposed To Woman Suffrage Sexism is commonly considered to be discrimination and/or hatred against people based on their sex rather than their individual merits, but can also refer to any and all systemic differentiations based on the sex... Whiteness studies (also known as critical whiteness studies) is a controversial arena of academic inquiry focused on the cultural, historical and sociological aspects of people identified as white, and the social construction of whiteness as a social status. ...

External links

• Znet
• Gary Werskey - The Marxist Critique of Capitalist Science: A History in Three Movements?