Explanation
The Frankfurt School refers to a group of scholars associated with the Institute for Social Research in Frankfurt, Germany, founded in the 1920s. Key figures include Max Horkheimer, Theodor W. Adorno, Herbert Marcuse, and later Jürgen Habermas. They sought to integrate Marxist analysis with insights from philosophy, psychoanalysis, and cultural criticism to understand how modern societies reproduce inequality and control through ideology, culture, and institutions. Their work laid the foundation for Critical Theory and deeply influenced sociology, political science, and criminology.
Theoretical Reference
The Frankfurt School is central to Critical Theory and provides tools to analyze social domination beyond economic class, including cultural production, authoritarianism, and the manipulation of mass consciousness.