Crisis

Jeremiah Morelock and Felipe Ziotti Narita

Chapter 5 in Research Handbook on Critical Theory, 2026, pp 41-51 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This chapter develops a dialectical approach to the concept of crisis, situating it within the critical theoretical lineage of Hegel, Marx, and the Frankfurt School. Rather than treating crisis as a singular event, we examine it as an immanent, multidimensional process exposing contradictions in capitalist modernity. Two analytical strata guide our approach: (1) structural disruptions that dismantle existing forms while enabling new ones, and (2) the intersection of crisis with class, gender, ethnicity, and territory. These layers demand both historical critique and multidisciplinary responses to contemporary challenges. We explore the dialectical logic of historical transformation, the psychic impoverishment and authoritarian tendencies shaped by capitalist structures, and the legitimation and epistemic crises defining today's political culture. Drawing from key Frankfurt School thinkers, we argue for a broadened understanding of crisis that extends beyond economics to include cultural, psychological, and political dimensions. The chapter concludes by outlining a research agenda that treats crisis as a complex, layered condition—intersecting with inequality and agency—and calls for pluralistic methods that can engage its discursive, experiential, and empirical facets.

Keywords: Crisis; Critical Theory; Dialectics; Capitalism; Public Policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781800373754
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