Critical theory must analyze industrialized society as a whole rather than rank power blocs

Evidence

Deserving as it may be to point out the horrors of German or Russian despotism, the effort of conceptual thinking has, in my opinion, still to be concerned with the social development in industrialized society as a whole. To conceive the horror is as horrible as to see the night. The horror in the human world should be understood as the verdict against specific forms of social self-preservation. Today the world has become too much of a totality as to justify the isolation of one power block so as to oppose it to the rest of civilization as good or bad, or better or worse. Such a procedure is justified in practical respects but not when it comes to theoretical thinking. Here, I must say the principle of the lesser evil is even more dangerous than in politics. — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 684

Categorization

• QUESTION: Worth chasing the original source of this Adorno statement and its publication context — it seems to date from the height of the Cold War polarization.
• XREF: connects to: Transforming capitalist society requires understanding its opaque base and superstructures; Containing qualitative social change is industrial society’s defining achievement; Capitalist modernity cannot be understood from its internal dynamics alone — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2: Identity…, 487 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Capitalist modernity cannot be understood from its internal dynamics alone #corroborates (0.88) — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2, 487
• Transforming capitalist society requires understanding its opaque base and superstructures #expands (0.85)
• Understanding capitalist structures must precede effective revolutionary practice #expands (0.82)
• Containing qualitative social change is industrial society’s defining achievement #expands (0.80)
• Theorizing away the concept of totality serves capitalism by hiding it from political challenge #expands (0.78) — Fredric Jameson, Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic…, 713