Critical Theory and the Critique of Political Economy

This review-essay assays Werner Bonefeld's timely attempt to unite contemporary critical theory with the critique of political economy. I begin by contextualising Bonefeld's contribution in relation to the dearth of material on this issue in contemporary anglophone critical theory. I then discuss the anglophone reception of Adornian critical theory and provide an overview of the development of the subterranean critical theoretical interpretations of the critique of political economy that Adorn influenced which have been occluded by the former. This sets up my discussion of how Bonefeld has taken up, criticised and developed this subterranean strand in critical theory and the critique of political economy. I close with some criticisms of how Bonefeld addresses the relationship between critical theory and the critique of political economy and point toward several areas of further investigation that are intended to extend this approach to the contemporary critical theory of society.