Have you heard of Critical Theory? These days it’s really popular among leftist academic elites. So, what is this Critical Theory? It’s a social and political philosophy and movement whose goal, according to them, is to understand and help overcome all the social structures that cause some people to dominate and other people to be oppressed. Their final goal, in their own words, is “human emancipation.”
Where did it come from? It is a Marxist-inspired movement that was originally associated with the Frankfurt School – a Marxist school of thought – back in the 1920’s and 30’s, which applied Marxist ideas to the works of people like Sigmund Freud to form their own radical interdisciplinary social theory. Since the 1970’s, Critical Theory has been very influential in the study of history, law, literature and the social sciences, which makes sense given the fact that the left has basically been in control of our institutions of higher learning since that time. Like I said, it’s become very popular within today’s leftist academic elites.
It is arguably a belief system, a worldview, a metanarrative, by which people see the world and all of human history.
If I were to sum up what Critical Theory is all about, I would sum it up like this:
Critical Theory is about dividing everyone into one of two groups – the oppressors and the oppressed. It looks at history from the standpoint of who they believe were and are the oppressed, and how in fact they were and are oppressed by their oppressors. Inherent in dividing everyone into these two groups is pitting those two groups against each other, which cannot be fundamentally good when it comes to having social stability and unity in a society.
For example, Howard Zinn’s famous book, A People’s History of the United States is written from this vantage point. (Of course, if you really want to be objective, after you get done reading Zinn’s book, you should also read Mary Grabar’s rebuttal Debunking Howard Zinn.)
Black Lives Matter and Critical Theory
The Black Lives Matter movement looks at reality through the lens, the worldview, the metanarrative of Critical Theory. It’s founders claim to be “Marxist trained.” If you look at their website, you’ll see anti-capitalist rhetoric and see the word “comrade” – a word used much by Marxists – quite a bit, which makes sense given the fact that BLM was inspired by the Marxist-driven Critical Theory worldview.
Now, with all of this being said, I’ve got some hefty questions to ask those of you that are big fans of looking at the world through the framework of Critical Theory. I’m especially asking those of you who are part of the Black Lives Matter movement. I am going to attempt to ask you some questions using your frame of reference. So, with all that being said, let’s begin with the first question:
What If the Group You Think Are the Oppressors Are Not the Actual Oppressors?
