Adorno, Foucault and the Critique of the West

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Adorno, Foucault, and the Critique of the West argues that critical theory continues to offer valuable resources for critique and contestation during this turbulent period in our history. To assess these resources, it examines the work of two of the twentieth century's more prominent social theorists: Theodor W. Adorno and Michel Foucault. Although Adorno was situated squarely in the Marxist tradition that Foucault would occasionally challenge, Cook demonstrates that their critiques of our current predicament are complementary in important respects. Among other things, they converge in their focus on the historical conditions-economic in Adorno and political in Foucault-that gave rise to the racist and authoritarian tendencies that continue to blight the West. But this book will also show that as Adorno and Foucault plumb the economic and political forces that have shaped our identities, they offer remarkably similar answers to the perennial question: What is to be done?

Deborah Cook is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Windsor, Canada. Her previous books include The Turn Towards Subjectivity: Michel Foucault's Legacy (1993), The Culture Industry Revisited: Theodor W. Adorno on Mass Culture (1996), Adorno, Habermas, and the Search for a Rational Society (2004), Theodor Adorno: Key Concepts (2008) and Adorno on Nature (2011).

Defying conventional wisdom, Deborah Cook makes a compelling case for the complementarity of Adorno and Foucault's critical projects. In so doing, she makes clear that the theoretical legacy of the past century still has much to offer in the struggle to meet the daunting challenges of our own. -- Martin Jay, University of California, Berkeley Foucault's relation to the Frankfurt School and the work of one of its key theorists was long overdue a critical reappraisal. Neither reducing one thinker to the other nor drawing artificial lines between traditions, this is a bold and thoughtful contribution to this valuable work. It should be required reading and the basis of wide critical engagement. -- Stuart Elden, University of Warwick and author of Foucault: The Birth of Power (2017) and Foucault's Last Decade (2016) Michel Foucault once observed that had he known earlier in life about Frankfurt School critical theorists such as Adorno, he might have written little more than commentaries on their work, and he might have avoided some mistakes as well. Although Adorno and Foucault were surely dissimilar in many respects, Deborah Cook succeeds admirably in marking out the coordinates for their comparison. Alerting us to shared philosophical themes and emancipatory purposes, she has performed a truly important service by building a bridge between these two titans of modern social thought. -- Peter E. Gordon Adorno was never confronted with structuralism and Foucault barely mentioned the Frankfurt School. Nevertheless, their critique of capitalism and Western civilization astonishingly converged. Cannot contemporary radical thought draw inspiration from both Adorno's unmasking of instrumental reason and Foucault's lucid investigation of biopolitical power? Deborah Cook establishes an extremely fruitful posthumous dialogue between these great thinkers. Highly readable and admiringly clear, her compelling essay provides many valuable ammunitions for critical theory in the twenty-first century. -- Enzo Traverso, author of Fire and Blood and The New Faces of Fascism Praise for Adorno on Nature: Adorno is one of the most sophisticated and thorough materialists of the last century, and Cook introduces with much precision (and sympathy for those not already familiar with Adorno's work) the diversity and strength of Adorno's approach. Adorno on Nature functions in part, then, as a corrective to recent neglect of Adorno's commitment to Marxist materialism. * Mind * Praise for Adorno on Nature: A useful and persuasive account of Adorno's concept of nature and its relationship with the thought of, above all, Marx, but also Hegel, Kant and, to a lesser extent, Freud. * Marx and Philosophy Review of Books * Praise for Adorno on Nature: A comprehensive and careful analysis of the crucial and often underestimated role of nature in Adorno, tracing Adorno's conception of 'natural history' from the 1930s to the 1960s and articulating its implications for environmental philosophy and activism. * Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews * Praise for Adorno on Nature: Deborah Cook provides an illuminating study of the concept of nature in Adorno and how it emerges and remains a central component of his work, undergirding the key themes of his philosophy. Clearly and lucidly presenting Adorno's complex ideas, Cook provides a work that should be of interest to both students and scholars of Adorno's important work. -- Douglas Kellner, UCLA Praise for The Culture Industry Revisited: Deborah Cook's study of Adorno and mass culture critically engages one of the most important thinkers of our century. An excellent job in presenting Adorno's complex thought applied to a wide range of issues in contemporary social theory and media criticism. -- Douglas Kellner, UCLA; author of Media Culture and Media Spectacle and the Crisis of Democracy Praise for The Culture Industry Revisited: In sum, the book is a refreshing departure from the frequent tendency to bash and dismiss Adorno without further ado, or the tendency of his followers to simply celebrate him as the greatest theorist of the contemporary moment. Cook's book should thus be of significant use to those interested in Adorno and critical theory, cultural studies and mass communication, and contemporary social theory. Adorno's work itself is transdisciplinary and Cook presents him in a fashion in which he could be of use to a broad transdisciplinary audience. * Journal of Communication * Praise for The Culture Industry Revisited: Adorno's speculative thinking in the service of norms such as freedom, autonomy, and spontaneity serves as a prototype of social and political practice that might overcome the reification and narcissism endemic to contemporary mass culture. * Sociological Abstracts * Praise for Theodor Adorno: Key Concepts: This collection accomplishes its goal to lead us 'through the intricate labyrinth of Adorno's work." It is a reliable guide and will leave readers of Adorno less perplexed. * Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews *