The Utopian Content of Reification: Adorno’s Critical Social Theory of Nature Christopher Buck DOI:10.5422/fordham/9780823251414.003.0007 In this chapter, Chris Buck argues for a “critical social theory of nature” that requires a reconstruction of the immanent/transcendent relation. Finding resources for such a reconstruction in Theodor Adorno’s critical reinterpretation of Marx’s theory of exchange value, Buck argues for […]

Since the financial crisis of 2007-2009, the ethics of those who work in the banking sector have come under special scrutiny. Indeed, the world of finance has long carried a moral taint, one which has been more than occasionally depicted and addressed in works of literary fiction. A highly illuminating and penetrating case in point […]

Crina Archer, Laura Ephraim and Lida Maxwell (eds.) Second Nature: Rethinking the Natural Through Politics Bronx, NY: Fordham University Press, 2013 At a time when the denaturalising turn in political theory is more frequently than not either ignored or used to illicitly cover over naturalising tendencies in our understanding of human existence and political action, […]

Paul Smaldino, Cynthia Pickett, Jeffrey Sherman and Jeffrey Schank (2012) According to optimal distinctiveness theory (ODT), individuals prefer social groups that are relatively distinct compared to other groups in the individuals’ social environment. Distinctive groups (i.e., groups of moderate relative size) are deemed “optimal” because they allow for feelings of inclusion and social connection while […]