Picture of author.

Douglas Kellner

Teoksen Postmodern Theory: Critical Interrogations tekijä

32+ teosta 1,073 jäsentä 5 arvostelua 1 Favorited

Tietoja tekijästä

Douglas Kellner is the George F. Kneller Chair in the philosophy of education at UCLA and author of numerous books. (Bowker Author Biography)

Sarjat

Tekijän teokset

Mediakulttuuri (1995) 113 kappaletta
The Postmodern Turn (1991) 82 kappaletta
Baudrillard: A Critical Reader (1994) 43 kappaletta
Karl Korsch: Revolutionary Theory (1977) — Toimittaja — 20 kappaletta
Media Spectacle (2003) 20 kappaletta

Associated Works

YKSIULOTTEINEN IHMINEN (1964) — Johdanto, eräät painokset2,178 kappaletta
Encyclopedia of the American Left (1990) — Avustaja, eräät painokset105 kappaletta
Technology and the Good Life? (2000) — Avustaja — 18 kappaletta
The Analog Sea Review: Number Four (2022) — Avustaja — 2 kappaletta

Merkitty avainsanalla

Yleistieto

Virallinen nimi
Kellner, Douglas MacKay
Muut nimet
Kellner, Douglas M.
Syntymäaika
1943-05-31
Sukupuoli
male
Syntymäpaikka
Washington, D.C., USA

Jäseniä

Kirja-arvosteluja

This was an accessible survey of a handful of the leading theorists associated with postmodernism. Foucault, Deleuze & Guattari, Baudrillard, and Lyotard each get a chapter. Kellner's dedication to radical politics, especially in the tradition of the Frankfurt school (see his previous book: [b:Critical Theory Marxism and Modernity|373544|Critical Theory, Marxism, and Modernity (Parallax Re-visions of Culture and Society)|Douglas Kellner|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174258766s/373544.jpg|363456]), comes through clearly, making this an ideal introduction for anyone with similar political interests. Providing a detailed and informative, yet jargon-free analysis of theoretical literature infamous for impenetrable jargon, the authors spare no criticism of these postmodern writers for their proclivities for sloganeering, idealism, and "fetishism of difference." They are most concerned that the defeatism present in much postmodern theory is debilitating for any effective movement for political change, but they also identify important contributions that postmodern theory could make to a renewal of the left which, at the time of the book's publication, had reached a nadir in the decade of Reagan and Bush.… (lisätietoja)
 
Merkitty asiattomaksi
dmac7 | Jun 14, 2013 |
Just some notes before I return this to the library:

"The scholar and his science are incorporated into the apparatus of society; his achievements are a factor in the conservation and continuous renewal of the existing state of affairs, no matter what fine names he gives to what he does." [a:Max Horkheimer|49074|Max Horkheimer|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1238170521p2/49074.jpg], [b:Critical Theory|441562|Critical Theory|Max Horkheimer|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174799934s/441562.jpg|430351], p.196/Kellner p.45

In a synchronic sense Critical Theory uses "totalizing concepts" to accurately represent the "totalizing capitalist society" which imposes certain ways of thinking and behaving in every realm of human experience. In a diachronic sense, it must account for the historical stages through which capitalism has passed and will pass through from which socialism might emerge. (p.47-8)

"[T]he theory never aims simply at an increase in knowledge as such. Its goal is man's emancipation from slavery." Horkheimer, [b:Critical Theory|441562|Critical Theory|Max Horkheimer|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174799934s/441562.jpg|430351], p.245/Kellner p.49

"Lukács suggests that natural science 'distills "pure" facts and places them in the relevent context by means of observation, abstraction, and experiment', and that it is precisely the 'social structure of capitalism which encourages such views'. In producing commodities for the sake of their exchange value and in the exchange relationships which permeate bourgeious society, there is abstraction from qualitative needs, values and uses.... [Capitalism] thus constitutes science as a tool of its interests." Kellner p.94 (Nested quotes from [a:Lukács|3008441|Georg Lukács|http://www.goodreads.com/assets/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66.jpg], [b:History and Class Consciousness|189598|History and Class Consciousness Studies in Marxist Dialectics|Georg Lukaes|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172549650s/189598.jpg|183295], pp.95-6)

"Humans pay for the increase of their power with alienation from that over which they exercise their power. Enlightenment behaves toward things as a dictator toward men. He knows them in so far as he can manipulate them." Horkheimer and [a:Theodor Adorno|94301|Theodor W. Adorno|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1261108912p2/94301.jpg], [b:Dialectic of Enlightenment|85812|Dialectic of Enlightenment Philosophical Fragments|Max Horkheimer|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171062603s/85812.jpg|1035334], p.9/Kellner p.95

As opposed to objective reason, for Horkheimer, subjective reason "is essentially concerned with means and ends, with the adequacy of procedures for purposes more or less taken for granted and supposedly self-explanatory. It attaches little importance to the question whether the purposes as such are reasonable. If it concers itself at all with ends, it takes for granted that they too are reasonable in the subjective sense, i.e. that they serve the subject's interest in relation to self-preservation." Horkheimer, [b:Eclipse of Reason|441559|Eclipse of Reason|Max Horkheimer|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174799933s/441559.jpg|430348], pp.3-4/Kellner p.101-2

"Adorno believes that there is a rudimentary 'dialectic of women' in Veblen's analysis, which presents women both as relatively independent of the economic system, and thus free from the 'predatory spirit', and as potentially conservative by virtue of exclusion from the production process and the public sphere." Kellner p.149 (on [a:Thorstein Veblen|95261|Thorstein Veblen|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1218010885p2/95261.jpg]'s [b:Theory of the Leisure Class|164019|The Theory of the Leisure Class (Modern Library Classics)|Thorstein Veblen|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172330188s/164019.jpg|290377])

"Advertising is a waste of resources, talent and time, and a rational society would limit advertising to providing consumer information." Kellner p.165

According to [a:Habermas|31386|Jürgen Habermas|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1257210329p2/31386.jpg]'s theory of legitimation crisis, crises of late capitalism will come from a failure of the "cultural sphere" to instill sufficient motivation in individuals to carry out the tasks the system requires (work, for instance). (p.199) Habermas thinks these "social crises" are the new vulnerability, distinguishing them from the "system crises" of the now-surpassed liberal capitalism. (p.197) More pressing crises than these to me, however, are the inevitable limits to growth imposed on any economy by the finite resources on the planet--the consequences of which are not considered in Marx's original scheme or Habermas's updated version.
… (lisätietoja)
 
Merkitty asiattomaksi
dmac7 | Jun 14, 2013 |
No where near as stuffy as some of the other Great Courses. Highly recommended.
 
Merkitty asiattomaksi
Sandydog1 | 2 muuta kirja-arvostelua | Jan 6, 2007 |

Palkinnot

You May Also Like

Associated Authors

Tilastot

Teokset
32
Also by
5
Jäseniä
1,073
Suosituimmuussija
#23,964
Arvio (tähdet)
½ 3.7
Kirja-arvosteluja
5
ISBN:t
123
Kielet
5
Kuinka monen suosikki
1

Taulukot ja kaaviot