Social criticism analyzes social structures which are seen as flawed and aims at practical solutions by specific measures, radical reform or even revolutionary change.
Academic forms of social criticism
The dispute between critical rationalism (e.g. Karl Popper and the Frankfurt School) exemplified the principal problem whether the research in the social sciences should attempt to be 'neutral' or 'objective' or consciously adopt a necessarily partisan view.
Works of social criticism can belong to social philosophy, political economy, sociology, social psychology, psychoanalysis but also cultural studies and other disciplines or reject academic forms of discourse.
Social criticism in literature and music
Social criticism can also be expressed in a fictional form, e.g. in a revolutionary novel like The Iron Heel by Jack London or in dystopian novels like Aldous Huxley's Brave New World (1932) or George Orwell's (Nineteen Eighty-Four) (1949) or Ray Bradburys Fahrenheit 451 (1953), children's books or films.
Fictional literature can have a significant social impact. "For example, the 1852 novel Uncle Tom's Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe furthered the antislavery movement in the United States, and the 1885 novel Ramona, by Helen Hunt Jackson, brought about changes in laws regarding Native Americans. Similarly, Upton Sinclair's 1906 novel The Jungle helped create new laws related to public health and food handling, and Arthur Morrison's 1896 novel A Child of the Jago caused England to change its housing laws." [1]
Musical expressions of social criticism are very frequent in punk music.
Classical works
Among the classical works are:
and many of the writings of Pierre Bourdieu
Contemporary authors
References
- Patricia D. Netzley (1999), Social Protest Literature. An Encyclopedia of Works, Characters, Authors and Themes, Santa Barbara, Denver, Oxford: ABC-Clio, 1999
Sources
- ^ Netzley 1999: xiii
See also
- Ableism
- African Cinema, African American literature
- Adultism, Ageism, Children's rights movement
- Antisemitism
- class struggle, council communism, Labour movement, exploitation
- Biopolitics
- Critical pedagogy, Sociology of education
- Critique of technology, Development criticism
- Eurocentrism
- Feminism, Women's movement, Women's studies,Women's Cinema
- Ideology, Criticism of religion, Critique of capitalism, Critique of technology
- Imperialism, Militarism, Nationalism
- Hegemonic masculinity, Heterosexism, Homophobia
- LGBT social movements
- Anarchism, Surrealism, Situationist International
- New social movements
- Pamphlet, Satire, Utopian and dystopian fiction
- Political Cinema, Political theatre
- Post-structuralism, Critical Theory
- Colonialism, Anticolonialism, Neocolonialism, Post-Colonialism
- Racism, Racism in the United States, Antiracism
- Sexism
- Whiteness studies
External links
|
