This thesis is a critique of Critical Social Theory from a post-structural perspective. It considers its contribution to the vision of Skinner, Pocock, Foucault and Derrida and argues against the juxtaposition of modern language and concepts with postmodern themes, as a proximity, which suggests an authentic postmodemity and so critical social theorists as 'better knowers'. It argues that critical social theory is a hermeneutic approach, which tears texts of the past apart to reveal what they were 'really saying'. This, it argues implies an objectivism which sustains that access. An objective theory which, permits, it argues, an indictment of a bad or wrong Realist approach in international relations in favour of a "more authentic" poststructural understanding of the discipline. The thesis then concludes that the problem is the 'instrumental' use of poststructural concepts to liberate the oppressed from a tradition, which constrains poststructuralism, but from which critical social theory must consequently 'step away'. So that critical social theory violates the tenets ofpoststructuralism. Finally, it observes how this approach appears little changed from its intellectual heritage in critical theory as the political determination of the approach, and how this common heritage has led to a common approach within the discipline.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:271774 |
| Date | January 2003 |
| Creators | Hoadley, Colin Stephen |
| Publisher | University of Sussex |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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