法兰克福学派大众文化批判理论的启示

大众文化批判理论是法兰克福学派社会批判理论的基本主题之一。作为法兰克福学派文化批判理论的主要代表人物,不管是霍克海默和阿多诺,还是马尔库塞,他们都对当代资本主义社会的大众文化给予了激烈的批判和否定。对于中国当下大众文化的泛滥、消费主义的盛行以及人的单向度化越来越严重,人们也越来越感到不安和担忧。法兰克福学派的大众文化批判理论,对于我们反思当下中国文化的问题,探索中国文化健康发展的道路,具有重要启示意义。     

法兰克福学派大众文化批判理论浅析

法兰克福学派作为现代西方主要思潮,以其社会批判理论为核心理念,从大众文化批判角度入手,从其批判理论来源、主要内容、理论影响几个方面详细论述了法兰克福学派对大众文化的批判,对文化内容进行评价与考察,并辩证地分析其对我国文化现代化构建的借鉴作用,使其更好地应用于当今中国的文化建设中。     

法兰克福学派大众文化批判理论探析

随着资本主义发达工业社会的发展,大众文化对人的操控日益加深。作为一种异化了的文化力量,大众文化对人有着消极乃至负面的影响。法兰克福学派关注资本主义社会的大众文化,对之进行了一番系统而猛烈的批判,其批判具有一定的进步意义,但是也存在着一定的局限性。探讨法兰克福学派大众文化批判理论,对于当今社会提高人们文化素质具有一定的现实借鉴意义。     

法兰克福学派政治经济学批判研究概览

法兰克福学派延续了西方马克思主义从文化批判角度发展马克思主义的路向。除此之外,该学派还存在着政治经济学批判这一非主流的研究路径,它在批判理论的建构、转型与发展中发挥了重要作用,而且使之遵循并发展了马克思文化阐释的初始路向,其文化批判才得以建设性地补充了马克思的政治经济学批判,形成了对马克思主义当代发展的重要维度。对法兰克福学派政治经济学批判的研究并未在国内外学界广泛、充分地开展。目前已经探讨了波洛克、诺依曼、格罗斯曼、基希海默等的政治经济学批判;揭示霍克海默、阿多诺与政治经济学批判的关系;考察了新马克思阅读运动。有待加强与深化的研究是:马克思政治经济学批判含义;政治经济学批判在法兰克福学派中重要地位的充足依据;紧扣专题的系统性研究;法兰克福学派其他成员的政治经济学批判;法兰克福学派发展马克思政治经济学批判的内容及借鉴意义。     

霍克海默和阿多诺的大众文化批判理论研究

20世纪30年代,随着德国纳粹党的上台以及美国资本主义的兴盛,作为法兰克福学派重要代表人物的霍克海默和阿多诺逐渐看到了资本主义社会中大众文化的本质,并对其展开了批判。本文是针对霍克海默和阿多诺的大众文化批判理论而展开的探究,首先对其理论的产生背景和主要观点进行了介绍;其次揭示了其大众文化批判理论的积极意义和不足之处;最后其大众文化批判理论虽然存在一定的弊端和不足,但仍对当代中国无论是国家、民众还是学者都有着十分重要的借鉴和启示意义。     

从视域转换看法兰克福学派的意识形态批判

法兰克福学派继承了马克思和恩格斯对意识形态所持的基本立场,从否定的意义上批判意识形态,但是,与马克思在政治层面的批判不同,法兰克福学派是从文化层面对意识形态进行批判,从而实现了由政治批判向社会文化批判的视域转换,这一转换对于我国社会主义建设有着重要的启示意义。     

社会批判理论:从马克思到法兰克福学派

批判理论是从马克思到法兰克福学派一脉相承的哲学理念。这一理论发展可划分为三个阶段:即马克思对资本逻辑的经济学—哲学—社会主义批判;卢卡奇等第一代西方马克思主义以物化与主体性为核心的批判理念;作为法兰克福学派研究纲领的批判理论。批判理论的发展体现了马克思主义者面对资本主义社会变迁的基本理论立场。     

"机械复制艺术"与"文化工业"——本雅明与法兰克福学派大众文化之比较研究

本雅明的机械复制艺术与法兰克福学派的文化工业尽管称谓不同,但他们都是指称大众文化。技术理性观是他们对大众文化分析的逻辑出发点。由于对技术理性总体上持公正、赞同的态度,本雅明对大众文化的研究持乐观的、客观的观点,相比较而言,法兰克福学派对技术理性持总体批判的态度,因而其对大众文化的研究持悲观的、否定的观点。     

“哈贝马斯热”在我国悄然兴起的原因

在当代国外马克思主义的研究方面,法兰克福学派一直是国内理论界注视的重点,近年来更为突出。这不仅因为法兰克福学派是“西方马克思主义”中影响最大、最持久的一个派别,而且因为法兰克福学派久负盛名的社会批判理论,以综合研究的优势,扎根于社会现实生活之中,表现了对人类社会历史命运的关切,特别是对当代各国的现代化问题,     

从技术理性批判到社会制度批判——兼论西方生态马克思主义转换批判主题的逻辑意蕴

生态马克思主义因其以生态视角对资本主义社会制度进行批判而受到当代学术界的高度关注,由此也导致学术界把关注的目光过多放在对其制度性理论批判的梳理上.对于生态马克思主义为何从早期法兰克福学派以技术理性批判为主题转向以社会制度批判为主题的深层原因并未论及.由此从早期法兰克福学派以技术理性对资本主义批判主题确立的缘由及其理论批判缺陷入手,揭示生态马克思主义为从根本上解决生态危机而进行转换批判主题的深层原因和目的,就显得十分必要.这一批判主题转换的逻辑意义在于,生态马克思主义把法兰克福学派以发现问题根源为思维的逻辑起点转换为以解决问题为目的的思维逻辑新起点.这种思维方式的变化恰恰突显出生态马克思主义制度性批判主题确立的重要目的性,也彰显出这一社会批判理论最重要的理论特质和实践意义.     

Political Theory,Critical Theory,and the Place of the Frankfurt School

Abstract

This paper explores the paradox of the Frankfurt School's Critical Theory where the notion of "critical theory" became identified with aesthetics and asks whether the disappearance of the political dimension of critical theory was necessary. This disappearance of the political also presents some uncomfortable affinities between it and postmodernism. But in the more sober world after 1989, post-communism poses more relevant questions than post-modernism for an assessment of the history of the Frankfurt School. The political project of the old Frankfurt School has to be revivified - or at least given a decent burial.     

后现代背景下的大众文化与马克思主义大众化

当代中国马克思主义大众化正面临着大众文化的语境,中国当前的大众文化的发展离不开集中反映和贯穿着后现代精神的西方大众文化的传播,它给中国文化带来了诸多负面效应,给马克思主义大众化进程带来了挑战。同时,也为马克思主义的大众化开辟了新的传播途径和文化载体。当前应当把握机会,加强主流文化自身建设的同时,利用大众文化,改革马克思主义大众化传播方式,关注实际民生问题以实现马克思主义与人民大众的生活真正结合。     

结构主义和后结构主义化的批判理论--让·鲍德里亚的消费社会理论

鲍德里亚虽主要以一套仿象、内爆、超现实的理论闻名于世,但其真正基础却是他在成为明星学者之前提出的一套社会理论。鲍氏社会理论实为一种结构主义和后结构主义化的另类批判理论。它属于批判理论,因为它像法兰克福学派的批判理论一样,立足于以彻底否定的态度分析当代西方社会;它不同于法兰克福学派的地方在于它先后采用结构主义和后结构主义作为基本分析武器。在马克思主义阶段,鲍氏用结构主义把现代社会界定为符号化社会,即由等级性差异系统支配的社会。在后马克思主义阶段,鲍氏用后结构主义进一步把现代社会分为确定性阶段和不确定性阶段,强调资本主义最新阶段的特点是“能指的解放”、“能指的游戏”。     

Theodor Adorno,Alterglobalization, and Non-identity Politics

While the Critical Theory of the Frankfurt School has become an interesting player in recent theoretical attempts to understand the problems of, and potential solutions to, capitalist regimes of globalization, it has been generally limited to the work of Jürgen Habermas and his followers. As seen in the recent work of David Held and Nancy Fraser, Habermas's notion of the ideal of the public sphere and his conception of deliberative democracy have provided tantalizing tools for rethinking the importance of global civil institutions and spaces in furthering, to draw upon terms from Fraser's work, both recognition and redistribution on a global level. What has been less relevant in this resuscitation of Critical Theory in things global has been the work of the first-generation Frankfurt School theorists. In particular, the importance that Theodor Adorno's theory may have in articulating and characterizing the character of alterglobalization movements is explored. Adorno's notion of negative dialectics is first looked to in order to uncover a conception of radical politics, and then the recent attempt by John Holloway to bring in Adorno for the global anti-capitalist movement is explored. It is argued that while Holloway draws upon relevant and important aspects of Adorno's thinking, he does so by reinforcing some of the more problematic elements in Adorno's theory. Finally, Ernesto Laclau's characterization of political struggle is brought in to fully flesh out a non-identity politics implied in Adorno's work.     

A Critical Theory of the "Rationality" of US Foreign Policy: The Case of the American War in Vietnam

The attacks of September 11th, 2001, have increased the urgency of understanding the relationship between war-making and political culture. This essay uses Frankfurt School critical theory to analyze the development of the increasing "rationalization" of US foreign policy during the Cold War, focusing heuristically on the case of the US war in Vietnam. Particularly developing a Habermasian reading of these phenomena, the essay argues that, despite elite management and "steering" strategies, "subsystemic imperatives" are never completely "uncoupled" from the "cultural lifeworld." In the case of the US war in Vietnam, contradictions between elite political and economic instrumental rationalities and interests, and the broader American political culture and values, led to legitimation problems and loss of trust which have continued into the present period.     

BOOK REVIEWS

Book review in this article
We Have Never Been Modern. By Bruno Latour. Translated By Catherine Porter.
Between the Norm and the Exception. the Frankfurt School and the Rule of Law. By William E. Scheuerman.     

The Path of Culture

Abstract

From the late seventeenth century on the idea of culture underwent a gradual transformation. Originally this concept referred essentially to the “refined” way of life of the ruling social elite (which certainly included among others also such activities as listening and making music, reading works of literature, commissioning works of fine art). Popular culture, on the other hand, refers to the usually collective practices of groups of rural and urban workers taking the form of performance. They were not only excluded from refined culture, but it was regarded as completely unsuitable for them, potentially creating dangerous social aspirations. It is with the great social transformation from feudal to bourgeois society that the idea of refined culture was replaced by that of “high culture” encompassing both the arts and the sciences: works claiming universal human significance. This “high culture” for a considerable time coexisted with the remnants of popular culture. It has been only due to the great technical advances that its true opposite, “mass culture” emerged, at the turn to twentieth century, claiming an empirical universality: being understandable and truly interesting to everyone. In economic respect, there is a competitive relation between high and mass culture. However, it is argued that there can be no cultural competition between them. For they posit differing and potentially co-existing receptive attitudes. The characterisation of this difference and the discussion of the seeming exceptions to the so-articulated conceptual scheme occupies the concluding part of this essay.     

学习型社会挑战我国传统学习文化

构建学习型社会在我国的许多城市已经成为热潮.但是,这项工作会遇到我国传统学习文化的一系列挑战.如果我们不能克服文化方面的障碍,学习型社会就可能会走样,甚至成为"政绩工程"或"形象工程".本文从传统学习文化的功利主义、被动学习、个体学习几方面分析了传统学习文化对学习型社会所造成的障碍,并指出只有克服这些障碍,学习型社会才可能在我国扎根和健康成长.     

从国学热看国学普及

国学热是眼下比较热门的一个话题。这次国学热因为大众传媒的加入，因此凸现了国学普及这一课题。国学热的出现，反映了大众对国学的渴望，同时也暴露出当前文化市场需求与文化产品提供之间的矛盾，因此我们需要提供优秀的通俗国学作品、加强国学经典的学习、打造健康、完备的传播平台。针对当前国学热中的一些弊端，笔者认为我们可以乐观地看待。     

从流行腐朽政治文化看反腐斗争的严峻形势——对反腐斗争的艰巨性、复杂性、长期性的思考

流行腐朽政治文化已成为社会一大顽疾,腐蚀人们的心灵。党的十七届四中全会对新形势下反腐倡廉工作做出了重大战略部署,然而,流行腐朽政治文化的社会顽疾却令反腐倡廉工作充满复杂性、艰巨性和长期性。在分析了流行腐朽政治文化的内涵和现实意义后,提出了消除流行腐朽政治文化影响的几点思考。