Introduction

Nancy Fraser’s discussion of these themes in her instantly classical “Behind Marx’s Hidden Abode” (2014) speaks volumes about both the need for systematic analyses and her crucial role in advancing the critique of capitalism in the critical theory tradition.

Critical theory, too, has had its share of this revival. Not only is there a resurgence of interest in thinkers such as Karl Polanyi and Karl Marx but there is an increasing attempt to develop new concepts and categories adequate for the analysis of crisis and the possibilities of practical transformation. The recent edited collection on Marx’s work, which gathers together intellectuals gravitating around the tradition of the Frankfurt School, is a case in point (Jaeggi and Loick 2014). But it is also significant that prominent figures of that tradition who have been working on alternative forms of critique, such as the Hegelian and the Kantian, are now devoting increasing attention to Marx and the critique of capitalism more generally (see, for instance, Forst 2014; Honneth 2017).