Page 10 - Critical Theory of Communication as Critical Sociology of Critique

FUCHS: CRITICAL THEORY OF COMMUNICATION AS CRITICAL SOCIOLOGY OF CRITIQUE IN THE AGE OF DIGITAL CAPITALISM

immanent critique that is grounded in the empirical observation of how humans experience suffering and thereby
criticise society. Boltanski’s pragmatic sociology of critique is purely immanent. Honneth, in contrast, is more
sceptical and does not see critical capacities developing with necessity in society. He stresses the need for a
normative critique and a critical theory grounded in immanent transcendence (for a more detailed discussion of
immanence, transcendence and immanent transcendence as epistemology in critical theory, see Fuchs, 2011,
section 2.2: pp. 34-43).
I am not convinced that critical research can operate purely as an empirical sociology of critique that only
observes experiences of injustice. We cannot take for granted that an empirical sociology can always show how
the oppressed denunciate oppression and that such an observational and experiential analysis is suff cient for a
critique of society. We also require a critical moral philosophy that grounds and provides principles of what in-
justice is all about and informs empirical studies. And such epistemological, ontological and ethical foundations
of critical theory have to start with, but do not end with, Marx. This insight also answers Stephensen’s (2015, p.
167) question regarding why I consider “theoretical elaborations” so important and why my work is so heavily
theoretical. It would, however, be a mistake for critical theory to stop at philosophy. Social philosophy needs to
be combined with empirical research that critically studies human consciousness. My own work is a combination
of theory, empirical research and ethics. I have always used this approach in larger research projects (see for ex-
ample http://www.sns3.uti.at, http://www.projectpact.eu, http://netcommons.eu). The problem in most funded
social research projects and a lot of empirical research today is that it is too positivist and specialised and lacks
a broader engagement with social philosophy. We should return to Horkheimer and Adorno’s understanding of
critical theory and practice it as interdisciplinary social research that is grounded in philosophy.
It is certainly true that to a specif c degree ideology is “often keenly embraced” and “often actively re-en-
dorsed by digital workers themselves” (Stephensen, 2015, p. 168). One must, however, be careful in analysing
consciousness in class societies in order not to overlook how ideology is in itself often contradictory. In the re-
search project “Social Networking Sites in the Surveillance Society” (see http://www.sns3.uti.at), we found that
although most interviewed social media users at f rst sight shared an enthusiastically positive assessment of social
media’s potentials, they are much more ambiguous and critical about the exploitation of digital labour when
the foundations of this class relation are explored with the help of participatory action research (see Sevignani,
2016; Allmer, Fuchs, Kreilinger & Sevignani, 2014).
In media and communication studies (as in other parts of the social sciences), we f nd a kind of polarisation be-
tween theoretical approaches that focus on theorising communication and the media and empirical approaches
that are engaged in the observation and interpretation of the world through data collection and analysis. On the
one hand, this situation ref ects different traditions, but on the other hand, it is an expression of the fragmentation,
individualisation and neoliberalisation of the university. The university has increasingly been seized by the logic
of capital, accelerated by the logic of performance measurement, and scholars are activated to act as individuals
and not so much as groups or collectives of scholars. As a consequence, there is little space, time and social
possibility for the critique and interdisciplinarity, which, as suggested and practiced by the Frankfurt School,
combine philosophy and empirical research in critical studies. Critical media and communication studies could,
under ideal circumstances, operate as a critical sociology of critique that combines critical sociology and the so-
ciology of critique for studying media and communication in society with the help of a philosophically grounded
normative critical theory that grounds empirical social research of experiences of mediated and communicative
inequalities and struggles for equality that in turn inspire new theoretical knowledge.

Critical theory and humanist Marxism

Jan Løhmann Stephensen (2015, pp. 166-167) asks: “Why Marx? Why now? […] Why is it, from a con-
temporary perspective that explicitly focuses on analysing culture and economy in the age of social me-
dia, so important what Marx (and subsequently also Raymond Williams) said? What is the purpose of this

CONJUNCTIONS, VOL. 3, NO. 1, 2016, ISSN 2246-3755 | PAGE 10