Adorno’s utopian turn is misread by social science as resignation
Evidence
Thoughts such as these, which by all means take ‘theological risks’, ‘immediately provoke the well-known controversies - the “yes buts” - and there is nothing in the world, however bad, for which there are not the strongest possible arguments that it must be so and cannot under any circumstances be changed’. Given that such arguments often present themselves as scholarly nuance - that ‘this “but” is the very dogma of positivist social science in our own day’ - it is no surprise that ‘some social scientists inspired by Critical Theory fear that the elevation of theological motifs in this mode of thinking only comes at the price of non-committal, of empty generality and thus also of affirmation’. A radical utopia as socially critical theory’s point of refuge can only be imagined by sociology as resignation in view of the worst, and never as the opposite of resignation, for even utopia is not immune to the imperatives of the cultural environment. — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 1522
Categorization
- SEED: Directly serves the reader’s project: the ‘yes but’ as the dogma of positivist social science is itself an argument against the ‘pessimistic cul-de-sac’ reading of Adorno. Angle: the scholarly-nuance reflex as the real mechanism of ideological closure.
- XREF: Echoes the reader’s earlier notes on how ‘well-argued nonfiction point’ language and scholarly hedging function as ideology — related to notes on information overload and the commercial interests served by constant chatter. — connects to: Adorno’s utopia keeps exchange but makes every exchange just — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 1559; Popper called Adorno’s apparent pessimism resignation from failed utopian hopes — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 2414; Adorno’s weak utopia dissolves fixed social roles rather than institutionalizing them — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 2559
Broader Connections
- Adorno’s utopia keeps exchange but makes every exchange just
#expands(0.82) — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 1559