Micro-level practice sustains critique when rational detachment cannot
Evidence
By contrast, when one involves oneself in the microstructural moments of practice that make possible and undermine every macrostructural theory, one falls, as it were, into the deep waters of a first person who recognizes the limits of understanding and change, indeed the precarious necessity of the micro-macro opposition, yet is bound not to give up. — Donna Landry and Gerald MacLean, The Spivak Reader, 533
Categorization
- XREF: Bear on the strategic essentialism question: collective, embodied micro-practice is named as the site that ‘makes possible and undermines’ macrostructure, suggesting where Spivak locates an alternative to ironic individual detachment. — connects to: Practice undermines theory from within as a destructive element — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 1100; Collapsing theory into narrative destroys the critical distance rational critique requires — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism: A Marxist…, 371; Radicalized self-reflection can reveal the hidden practical roots of pure theory — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 2328 (+2 more)
Broader Connections
- Human action requires both reflection and practice together
#expands(0.85) — Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, 406 - Collapsing theory into narrative destroys the critical distance rational critique requires
#exemplifies(0.80) — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism, 371 - Theory must prove itself theoretically rather than gesture toward practice
#contradicts(0.80) — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 1202 - Radicalized self-reflection can reveal the hidden practical roots of pure theory
#corroborates(0.78) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 2328 - Practice undermines theory from within as a destructive element
#complicates(0.75) — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 1100