Negative dialectics in miserable times: Notes on Adorno and social praxis

Adorno’s social theory dissolves the dogmatic posture of reified things. Its critical intention is to decipher the human social practice hidden in things. For Adorno, the social practice that counts is the one that fights barbarism, and for this fight to succeed, it has to tackle the social precondi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of classical sociology : JCS 2012-02, Vol.12 (1), p.122-134
Main Author: Bonefeld, Werner
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adorno, Theodor W
Adorno, Theodor Wiesengrund
Bourgeois Societies
Bourgeois society
Dialectics
Economic sociology
Fetishism
Freedom
General studies. Economic systems
General studies. Ideologies
History, theory and methodology
Political sociology
Practice
Reification
Social conditions
Social Theories
Sociological theory
Sociology
Sociology of economy and development
Theory
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Summary:Adorno’s social theory dissolves the dogmatic posture of reified things. Its critical intention is to decipher the human social practice hidden in things. For Adorno, the social practice that counts is the one that fights barbarism, and for this fight to succeed, it has to tackle the social preconditions that make barbarism possible. A social practice that fails to do just that partakes in the false world of bourgeois society that it ostensibly seeks to overcome. In this context, Adorno argues, on the one hand, that the fight against barbarism is impossible because every social practice is the same. On the other, he says that negation is the only alternative to the falsehood of bourgeois society. The essay explores Adorno’s Negative Dialectics to examine this paradox and to decipher its conception of social practice in a reified world. What does it mean to say ‘no’?
ISSN:1468-795X
1741-2897
DOI:10.1177/1468795X11433701