Mapping neoliberal capitalism: critical theories and the idea of social critique

Abstract

One of the defining characteristics of critical social theory is the production of emancipation-oriented knowledge vis-à-vis the realities of capitalist society in all its contradictions. After a period of withdrawal from the seventies to the nineties, social critique of capitalist society has re-emerged with a new vitality and vigour. One of the salient characteristics of the contemporary developments within the diverse field of contemporary critical theories is the recovering of the idea of the social to name neoliberal capitalism and contemporary society as a whole. Drawing on a discussion of the themes of utopia, recognition, and disagreement, and on the idea of cognitive mapping, this paper advances the idea of social critique as a three-dimensional concept able to grasp the specificities of critical theories in neoliberal times.