ABSTRACT
Max Weber’s theory of rationalization provides the indispensable backdrop to key works by Max Horkheimer, Theodor Adorno, Herbert Marcuse, and Jürgen Habermas. However, all these figures define the “critical” part of critical theory in opposition to Weber’s so-called subjective idea of reason. This chapter investigates the Frankfurt School’s debt to, and critique of, Max Weber, and offers an assessment of the diverse conceptions of “critical reason” these theorists pose as an alternative to Weber.
