CRITICAL THEORY, 7.5 credits

Schedule

  • Seminar I: What is critical theory?

    • Tuesday 31 March 2026, 13:15–15:00, Nätverket

  • Seminar II: Materialism, ideology, subject

    • Tuesday 14 April 2026, 13:15–15:00, Nätverket

  • Seminar III: Representation, structuralism, poststructuralism

    • Tuesday 28 April 2026, 13:15–15:00, Nätverket

  • Seminar IV: Postcoloniality and feminism

    • Thursday 7 May 2026, 13:15–15:00, Nätverket

  • Seminar V: Postmodernism and late capitalism

    • Tuesday 19 May 2026, 13:15–15:00, Nätverket

Final essay period: late May–early June
Submission: end of Period 4 (by 7 June 2026)

Course layout

  • Before each seminar students send a short written reflection (approx. 1 page) to Simon via email.

    • The purpose is to demonstrate engagement with the readings, identify key arguments, and formulate at least one question or point for discussion.

  • The seminars are discussion-based.

    • We will collectively:

      • Clarify key concepts and theoretical positions

      • Compare and contrast perspectives across texts

      • Critically interrogate assumptions, tensions, and implications

      • Relate the theories to contemporary social and political issues

      • Discuss the usefulness of critical theory in relation to your PhD projects

  • The final assignment consists of writing an essay of 3,000–3,500 words.

    • In the essay:

      • Select one or more theoretical perspectives discussed in the course.

      • Relate these perspectives explicitly to your own PhD project.

      • Apply the selected theoretical perspective(s) to critically discuss, examine or (even) revise a core conceptual or analytical assumption that underpins the doctoral project.

Main book: Malpas, S., & Wake, P. (Eds.). (2006). The Routledge companion to critical theory. Routledge. [pdf]

Seminar I: What is critical theory?

  • Key chapter:

    • Malpas & Wake, Chapter 1: "Theory, history, context" (Huw Jones)

  • Also read:

    • Horkheimer, M. (1937). Traditional and critical theory. In Critical theory: Selected essays. Continuum. (English translation published 1972) (pp. 188-243) [pdf]

    • Fuchs, C. (2014). How can one define critical theory? In Social media: A critical introduction. Sage. (pp. 13-18). [pdf]

  • Deepening readings:

    • Adorno, T. W. & Horkheimer, M. (1944). The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception. In Dialectic of Enlightenment. (pp. 94-136). Stanford University Press. [pdf]

    • Marx, K. (1857). Introduction to the critique of political economy. In A contribution to the critique of political economy (pp. 265–312). Progress Publishers. [pdf]

    • Marcuse, H. (1964). The new forms of control. In One-dimensional man: Studies in the ideology of advanced industrial society. (pp. 3-20) Beacon Press. [pdf]

Seminar II: Materialism, ideology, subject

  • Key chapters:

    • Malpas & Wake, Chapter 4: "Marxism" (Glyn Daly)

    • Malpas & Wake, Chapter 7: "Psychoanalytic criticism" (Rob Lapsley)

  • Also read:

    • Fraser, N. (2022). Omnivore: Why we need to expand our conception of capitalism. In Cannibal capitalism. Verso. (pp. 1–28). [pdf]

    • Laclau, E. (1996). Why do empty signifiers matter to politics? In Emancipation(s). (pp. 36-46). Verso. [pdf]

  • Deepening readings:

    • Althusser, L. (1971). Ideology and ideological state apparatuses. In Lenin and philosophy and other essays (pp. 127–186). Monthly Review Press. [pdf]

    • Lacan, J. (1968). The mirror stage as formative of the function of the I. New Left Review, 51, 71–77. [pdf]

Seminar III: Representation, structuralism, poststructuralism

  • Key chapters:

    • Malpas & Wake, Chapter 2: "Structuralism and semiotics" (Kate McGowan)

    • Malpas & Wake, Chapter 5: "Poststructuralism" (Catherine Belsey)

  • Also read:

    • Hall, S. (1997). The work of representation. In Representation: Cultural representations and signifying practices. Sage. (pp. 13–59). [pdf]

    • Haraway, D. (1988). Situated knowledges: The science question in feminism and the privilege of partial perspective. Feminist Studies, 14(3), 575–599. [pdf]

  • Deepening readings:

    • Barthes, R. (1977). The rhetoric of the image. In Image, music, text (pp. 32–51). Fontana. [pdf]

      Derrida, J. (1976). Linguistics and grammatology. In Of grammatology (pp. 29–79). Johns Hopkins University Press. [pdf]

    • Foucault, M. (1977). Panopticism. In Discipline and punish: The birth of the prison (pp. 195–228). Vintage Books.[pdf]

Seminar IV: Postcoloniality and feminism

  • Key chapters:

    • Malpas & Wake, Chapter 12: "Race and postcoloniality" (Apollo Amoko)

    • Malpas & Wake, Chapter 9: "Feminism" (Susan Hekman)

    • Malpas & Wake, Chapter 10: "Gender and Queer Theory" (Donald E. Hall)

  • Also read:

    • Crenshaw, K. (1989). Demarginalizing the intersection of race and sex. University of Chicago Legal Forum, 1989(1), 139–167. [pdf]

    • Fraser, N. (2022). Glutton for punishment: Why capitalism is structurally racist. In Cannibal capitalism. Verso. (pp. 29–56). [pdf]

  • Deepening readings:

    • Butler, J. (1990). Subversive bodily acts. In Gender trouble: Feminism and the subversion of identity (pp. 101-180). Routledge. [pdf]

    • Crenshaw, K. (1991). Mapping the margins: Intersectionality, identity politics, and violence against women of color. Stanford Law Review, 43(6), 1241–1299. [pdf]

    • Spivak, G. C. (1988). Can the subaltern speak? In C. Nelson & L. Grossberg (Eds.), Marxism and the interpretation of culture (pp. 271–313). University of Illinois Press. [pdf]

Seminar V: Postmodernism and late capitalism

  • Key chapter:

    • Malpas & Wake, Chapter 11: "Postmodernism" (Linda Hutcheon)

  • Also read:

    • Baudrillard, J. (1981). The precession of simulacra. In Simulacra and simulation. University of Michigan Press. (pp. 1-42). [pdf]

    • Fraser, N. (2022). Omnivore: Why we need to expand our conception of capitalism. In Cannibal capitalism. Verso. (pp. 1–28). [pdf]

    • Habermas, J. (1980). Modernity—An incomplete project. In The anti-aesthetic: Essays on postmodern culture (pp. 3–15). Bay Press. [pdf]

  • Deepening reading:

    • Jameson, F. (1991). The cultural logic of late capitalism. In Postmodernism, or, the cultural logic of late capitalism. (pp. 1-54). Duke University Press. [pdf]