Critical Theory and Authoritarian Populism

by Jeremiah Morelock (Editor)

After President Trump's election, BREXIT and the widespread rise of right-wing figures, there has been intense focus on authoritarian populism. The contents of this volume conduct a Frankfurt School inspired critique of Trump-led populism and some related developments across the globe. Assembling leading European and North American scholars, chapters are structured in three sections exploring an aspect of the topic: theories, foundations and digital authoritarianism.

Contributions examine the vital theory of earlier Frankfurt school thinkers (political, psychological and anthropological) and how these insights could be applied now amidst the insecurities and confusions endemic to modern life. The many theorists considered include Adorno, Fromm, Laclau and Marcuse alongside analysis of Austrian Facebook pages, of Trump's tweets and of his operatic media 'show'. This book is a major contribution towards deeper understanding of populism's reappearance in the age of digital capitalism.

298 pages, Paperback

Published December 17, 2018

Reviews

[Bjarni Halldór · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting book, although some of its chapters are arguably better than the others. Jeremiah Morelock and Douglas Kellner had the best chapters. All in all though, it’s a decent 3 - 3 1/2 stars, and very close to getting 4 stars.

[Justin Evans · Rating 3 out of 5]

Please see my review here: https://marxandphilosophy.org.uk/revi...

Short version: potentially useful, if you're into this kind of thing.