Introduction

“A specter is haunting the sociological enterprise—the specter of the Frankfurt School.” So began my introduction to a study of the Critical Theories of the Frankfurt thinkers Max Horkheimer and Theodor W. Adorno.¹ In the years since passed, a considerable part of the “cloud of myth, ambiguity, and confusion” I then thought surrounded the school has been dispelled—and not only in the sociological enterprise. While I choose to direct my attention exclusively toward the sociological aspect and implications of Frankfurt thought, I am keenly aware of the truly interdisciplinary endeavor of the school ranging from philosophy and sociology to economics, political science, and literary scholarship—institutionally anchored in the Institute for Social Research since its establishment in Frankfurt am Main in 1923. Accordingly, the reception, perception, and dissection of the intellectual heritage of the school cut through a cross-section of academic disciplines.