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Critical theory and the critique of alternative societies

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This book turns to the ideas of the early Frankfurt School to critically engage with key developments within anti-capitalist activism.
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  • 14 April 2026
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Anti-capitalist activism has taken a wrong direction and social and political theoretical theorists have failed to realise this. The trend for building, what has become called, ‘Alternative Societies’, spaces such as mutual aid groups and workers’ co-operatives, failed to grasp the true power of the capitalist totality. Drawing on the work of the early Frankfurt School, this book argues that such anti-capitalist strategies are deeply mistaken and must be urgently reconsidered.
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Price: £85.00
Pages: 208
Publisher: Manchester University Press
Imprint: Manchester University Press
Series: Critical Theory and Contemporary Society
Publication Date: 14 April 2026
ISBN: 9781526172228
Format: Hardcover
BISACs:

PHILOSOPHY / Movements / Critical Theory, Social and political philosophy, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Political Ideologies / Anarchism, NATURE / Environmental Conservation & Protection, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Public Policy / Social Services & Welfare, Anarchism, Green politics / ecopolitics / environmentalism, Labour / income economics

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'This very important and challenging book draws on early critical theory in a sustained and nuanced evaluation of post-capitalist projects'. — Emeritus Professor William Outhwaite, Emeritus Professor of Sociology, Newcastle University.

'The time has come to take the excesses of left political theory to critical task. In this bold new book, one of the most important new voices in the Critical Theory tradition does just that. Neal Harris confronts the advocates of pre-figurative politics and those that glibly assert that capitalism can be transformed from within. Harris shows how deeply powerful capitalism as a social system actually is and how a new critical theory will be needed to cultivate a more muscular and politically relevant movement politics that will be capable of genuine social transformation.' — Michael J. Thompson, Professor of Political Theory, William Paterson University

Introduction
1 The rise of alternative societies: Incoherent pluralism and actionism
2 Frankfurt School critical theory: Lessons from a missing revolution
3 Workers’ co-operative firms and interstitial revolution
4 Mutual aid groups and prefigurative revolution
5 Universal Basic Income: Symbiotic revolution and accelerationism
6 The case for critique: Corrective, transformative, therapeutic
Conclusion