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Understanding the Difference Between Critical Theory and Critical Race Theory
Downstream from Critical Theory
How should we think about critical theory as compared to critical race theory? Critical theory is older. Think of it as the older dad, grandpa, or uncle, and critical race theory is downstream a bit. But it’s not an easily identifiable relationship. It’s not as if critical race theory just said, Well, let’s adopt everything about critical theory and add race.
I would take critical race theory more as a nephew or great-nephew of critical theory. Critical race theory would be generally progressive and Marxist-leaning, whereas critical theory is explicitly Marxist and transformed, reworked Marxism.
What Is Critical Theory?
Bradley G. Green
In this book, Bradley G. Green offers a thoughtful Christian analysis of critical theory, its key philosophers, and their views regarding creation and reality; sin and the human dilemma; and redemption, history, and eschatology.
But critical race theory is an attempt to put race front and center in terms of how to make the world right. For the critical theorist, culture was front and center, after economics and traditional Marxism. For critical race theorists, clearly, race is front and center, and that was not a particularly big emphasis for the critical theorist, with one exception—Herbert Marcuse.
His student, Angela Davis, is a Black woman, an activist, and a communist. You could see a line from Marcuse (a critical theorist) to Angela Davis (clearly a race activist) to later, critical race theory. But I would say critical race theory is a nephew rather than the firstborn son of critical theory.
Bradley G. Green is the author of What Is Critical Theory?: A Concise Christian Analysis./
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