In this outstanding reinterpretation - and extension - of the Critical Theory tradition, Craig Calhoun surveys the origins, fortunes and prospects of this most influential of theoretical approaches. Moving with ease from the early Frankfurt School to Habermas, to contemporary debates over postmodernism, feminism and nationalism, Calhoun breathes new life into Critical Social Theory, showing how it can learn from the past and contribute to the future.

Craig Calhoun is Professor of Sociology and History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is the editor of Habermas and the Public Sphere (1992) and Social Theory and the Politics of Identity (Blackwell, 1994).