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Adorno, Foucault and the Critique of the West
The alliance of critical theory between Frankfurt and Paris
Adorno, Foucault, and the Critique of the West argues that critical theory continues to offer valuable resources for critique and contestation during this turbulent period in our history. To assess these resources, it examines the work of two of the twentieth century’s more prominent social theorists: Theodor W. Adorno and Michel Foucault. Although Adorno was situated squarely in the Marxist tradition that Foucault would occasionally challenge, Cook demonstrates that their critiques of our current predicament are complementary in important respects. Among other things, they converge in their focus on the historical conditions—economic in Adorno and political in Foucault—that gave rise to the racist and authoritarian tendencies that continue to blight the West. But this book will also show that as Adorno and Foucault plumb the economic and political forces that have shaped our identities, they offer remarkably similar answers to the perennial question: What is to be done?
Adorno, Foucault, and the Critique of the West argues that critical theory continues to offer valuable resources for critique and contestation during this turbulent period in our history. To assess these resources, it examines the work of two of the twentieth century’s more prominent social theorists: Theodor W. Adorno and Michel Foucault. Although Adorno was situated squarely in the Marxist tradition that Foucault would occasionally challenge, Cook demonstrates that their critiques of our current predicament are complementary in important respects. Among other things, they converge in their focus on the historical conditions—economic in Adorno and political in Foucault—that gave rise to the racist and authoritarian tendencies that continue to blight the West. But this book will also show that as Adorno and Foucault plumb the economic and political forces that have shaped our identities, they offer remarkably similar answers to the perennial question: What is to be done?
192 pages, Paperback
Published November 27, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
February 23, 2019
‘Adorno, Foucault and the critique of the West’ (VERSO 2018) no sure what exactly I expected other than a discussion of both theorists’ work but the whole time while reading I kind of waited for something bigger than the sum of these two. Moving beyond the academic debate whether Foucault was indeed a Marxist or not, the book discusses both theorists in a complementary manner, including as they converge in their focus on the historical conditions that gave rise to authoritarian tendencies in the West and concerns that fascism may reoccur – which makes this a very timely read.
I thoroughly enjoyed both authors accounts on the predominance of pseudo-individualism under late capitalism, essentially conformist, consumerist identities that identify with the oppressive system to such an extent that they no longer even question power relations. People who internalized capitalism to a point where when they learn that eight people own as much as the bottom half of the world where 1 billon people live in absolute misery, they’ll think that that’s kind of a more or less acceptable technical outcome of an otherwise successful system in which they keep ‘investing’. LOL. Anyhow, I think while it’s still advisable to read both authors at length and in their own right, it’s a valuable contribution to bring them both together, somewhat practically, as a framework for a critique of today’s conditions in the West and the rise of reoccurrence of fascism in the post Global Financial Crisis 21st century.
I thoroughly enjoyed both authors accounts on the predominance of pseudo-individualism under late capitalism, essentially conformist, consumerist identities that identify with the oppressive system to such an extent that they no longer even question power relations. People who internalized capitalism to a point where when they learn that eight people own as much as the bottom half of the world where 1 billon people live in absolute misery, they’ll think that that’s kind of a more or less acceptable technical outcome of an otherwise successful system in which they keep ‘investing’. LOL. Anyhow, I think while it’s still advisable to read both authors at length and in their own right, it’s a valuable contribution to bring them both together, somewhat practically, as a framework for a critique of today’s conditions in the West and the rise of reoccurrence of fascism in the post Global Financial Crisis 21st century.
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January 21, 2022Cornyyyy
November 8, 2022
A brilliantly researched and argued piece of scholarship. One needs to be reasonably familiar with both Adorno and Foucault to get any real meaning or value from this book, otherwise much of what is put forth falls on deaf ears, infertile ground. I am much more familiar with Foucault, but I have read enough Adorno to have a strong enough grounding for Cook's thesis. There is a lot to love about this book, and considering all the notes I took I would call it a valuable addition to anyone studying Adorno, Foucault, Late Capitalism, amongst a multitude of other serious concepts. The chapter on Ontology was a chore, but I stuck with it and it was well worth the effort. A book to make you think long and hard about where we are, how we got here, and where we may be going.
September 4, 2024
Profoundly disappointing, and I’m a Cook stan. I have an uneasy relationship to Foucault, but this is not about that. I think „Adorno on Nature” is outstanding and one of the best works on Adorno period. I have not yet read an interpretion of his work that I would find myself more in agreement with. Cook’s papers on Adorno were similarly extremely insightful and novel. They also went against a lot of the received wisdom, in my opinion heavily contributing to a line of reading him that was much more in the vein of the first generation of the Frankfurt School, instead of the washed up Habermasian turn.
This? I think it’s just a very weak book. It’s not that it does anything wrong, it’s just that it’s so much lower in quality and novelty. It frankly reads like an MA - if not BA - level thesis. It rehashes well known arguments without proposing nothing novel at all. The two authors are presented in a way that does not build any interesting dialogue between them, it’s „A thought that and F thought that on this matter” for the most part, and that’s an extremely boring and basic way to write comparative analysis. Also because both A. and F. are presented here in a very superficial way, their arguments are not deeply engaged with but rather ran through in a „best hits” sort of way. Why? It reads like a not very well thought out self-justification for a career that begun with Foucault and ended with Adorno, which is extremely rare, but could be argued for in a much more interesting way. And I know Cook would be capable of that, which is precisely why this felt so weak. It also felt much less radical in tone, like a step back from her previous arguments.
This? I think it’s just a very weak book. It’s not that it does anything wrong, it’s just that it’s so much lower in quality and novelty. It frankly reads like an MA - if not BA - level thesis. It rehashes well known arguments without proposing nothing novel at all. The two authors are presented in a way that does not build any interesting dialogue between them, it’s „A thought that and F thought that on this matter” for the most part, and that’s an extremely boring and basic way to write comparative analysis. Also because both A. and F. are presented here in a very superficial way, their arguments are not deeply engaged with but rather ran through in a „best hits” sort of way. Why? It reads like a not very well thought out self-justification for a career that begun with Foucault and ended with Adorno, which is extremely rare, but could be argued for in a much more interesting way. And I know Cook would be capable of that, which is precisely why this felt so weak. It also felt much less radical in tone, like a step back from her previous arguments.
May 2, 2024
He carried this one around like a baby blanket after his birthday for a few months before it was left outside in the rain, was then abandon.
May 29, 2023
Great book. Felt a little simplified regarding both Adorno's and Foucault's work (seemed to reduce both to a difference of capital- vs. power-critique—but also critiqued this position!) but still had very nuanced understanding of their particular takes on both. Cook showed that the two thinkers were not as mutually incompatible as many think, and that drawing comparisons between the two is a worthy area of study. She ends up siding with Adorno regarding the centrality of economics to power formation, which was funny even though I agree, but she does show that Foucault isn't focusing solely on power nearly as much as most people think. A good work :)
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews