Appelrouth Chapter 10 Critical Theory Test Bank Answers

Test Bank

Chapter 10: Critical Theory

Multiple Choice

1. The “critical” in critical theory refers to foundational scholars’ critique of ______.

a. capitalism and elitism

b. Nazi Germany

c. empiricism and positivism

d. Marxism

2. Which three scholars had the most significant impact on Marcuse and Adorno?

a. Marx, Weber, Durkheim

b. Marx, Weber, Freud

c. Kant, Du Bois, Weber

d. Du Bois, Marx, Freud

3. Which of the following is a critique of Marx’s claim that the proletariat will develop class consciousness?

a. The workers do not have enough time to meet each other.

b. The existing ideas are too complex for workers to grasp.

c. The workers cannot get the education they need to develop their consciousness.

d. The existing ideas and beliefs legitimate the ruling class.

4. Critical theorists deviated from orthodox Marxism when they ______.

a. elaborated extensively on the distinction between base and superstructure

b. rooted the evolutionary potential of society solely in the hands of the bourgeoisie

c. abandoned analyses of economic conditions to focus instead on ideas

d. collaborated in the creation of historical materialism during their time in the U.S.

5. The critical theorists argued that the ______ was responsible for the oppression of humanity.

a. exploitation inherent in capitalism

b. dominant form of thought

c. economic power accumulated by the bourgeoisie

d. inability of the proletariat to create an economic revolution.

6. According to critical theorists, what contributed to the decaying of humanity?

a. science

b. economics

c. exploitation

d. steering media

7. The authors consider the work of critical theorists to be primarily ______.

a. nonrational and collective

b. nonrational and individual

c. rational and collective

d. rational and individual

8. According to Adorno, why is the “culture industry” destructive?

a. It agitates consumers to overthrow the status quo.

b. It pacifies individuals and encourages conformity.

c. It requires consumers to produce new ideas.

d. It is only accessible to the upper classes.

9. How does Adorno describe the relationship between culture industry and the consumer?

a. Culture industry creates the consumer as an object.

b. Culture industry responds to the demands of the consumer.

c. Culture industry impacts the construction of the public sphere.

d. Culture industry challenges dominant ideas.

10. According to Adorno and Marcuse, the locus of individual freedom lies in ______.

a. the development of new aesthetic fashions

b. negative thinking

c. protesting the unequal distribution of material resources

d. boycotting industries

11. Which of Marcuse’s concepts refers to the ability to critically understand one’s world and to critique the status quo?

a. formal rationality

b. substantive rationality

c. individualistic rationality

d. technological rationality

12. Marcuse’s concept of surplus repression is linked to Sigmund Freud’s concept of ______.

a. pseudo-individualization

b. class consciousness

c. the reality principle

d. hegemony

13. What does Marcuse mean by “one-dimensional thought”?

a. A critical and oppositional attitude.

b. The inability to think outside of the established discourse.

c. The approach to understanding humanity that emphasizes reason.

d. A totalizing system that controls individuals.

14. Marcuse argues that modern mechanization and technology have ______.

a. created an era of abundance

b. erased individuality and creativity.

c. produced too much freedom

d. made creativity possible in labor

15. How did Habermas depart from other Frankfurt School theorists?

a. He critiqued modernity as too rationalized.

b. He argued that modernity produced mixed results.

c. He critiqued the power of reason to produce change.

d. He argued that power must combine with the culture industry.

16. According to Habermas, formal mechanisms that organize the system are ______.

a. steering media

b. lifeworlds

c. rationalities

d. public debates

17. Habermas’s concept of the “lifeworld” most directly falls in which quadrant?

a. rational

b. nonrational

c. collective

d. individual

18. What generalized form of communication related to power develops in the public

sphere?

a. authority

b. discursivity

c. influence

d. debate

19. According to Habermas, the public sphere acts as an intermediary between what

two major structures?

a. the lifeworld and the civil society

b. the civil society and the economy

c. the economy and the political system

d. the political system and the lifeworld

20. Where do social movements emerge?

a. public sphere

b. private sphere

c. the economic system

d. the state system

21. The public sphere is an example of a ______.

a. communication structure

b. colonized lifeworld

c. steering media

d. negation

22. According to Habermas, what is a consequence of the consolidation of media?

a. The colonization of the lifeworld becomes reversed.

b. Open debate gives way to prepackaged messages.

c. Steering media begin to shape the economy.

d. More jobs are created in the economic sphere.

23. According to Collins, why does society need black feminist thought?

a. to speak from the black woman’s standpoint

b. to challenge the oppression experienced by black women

c. to separate race and gender from other identities

d. to separate innovative theorizing from activism

24. By examining how experiences vary by race, gender, social class, and sexuality, Collins takes a(n) ______ approach.

a. dialogical

b. dialectical

c. intersectional

d. individualistic

25. According to Collins, what makes black feminist thought an example of critical theory?

a. the ability to articulate a strong standpoint

b. the generation of new knowledge for knowledge’s sake

c. the focus on racial injustice

d. the emphasis on justice and addressing inequality

True/False

26. Many academic institutions competed to hire Marcuse and Adorno.

27. The critical theorists’ framework extends Marx’s analysis of the means of production. but does not depart from central Marxist ideas.

28. The critical theorists failed to provide a specific account of the mechanisms for social change.

29. Many critical theorists build on Weber’s idea of the “iron cage.”

30. According to critical theorists, technological rationality constitutes the basis of the dominant ideology.

31. Objective reason allows us to determine the most efficient way of achieving our goals.

32. According to Adorno, cultural products arise from the creativity of individuals.

33. Repressive desublimation is produced from the conflict between sexuality and society.

34. Critical theorists argued that science was becoming a form of domination.

35. Habermas defines communicative action as the process in which individuals come to mutual understanding and consensus through closed, coercive debate.

36. Habermas’s theory of action is inspired by Weber’s analysis of rationalization.

37. Habermas argues that as societies evolve, the lifeworld and the system become more closely coupled.

38. Public opinion can be publicly bought by interest groups.

39. According to Habermas, members of the press often control what is communicated in the public sphere.

40. Critical theorists explain how the revolutionary consciousness of the working class can form.

41. Negation refers to the critique of “objective truths.”

42. Individualistic rationality refers to the scientific approach to all aspects of life.

43. According to Marcuse, economic freedom would mean freedom from the current economic forces.

44. Habermas argues that modernity is marked by the rationalization of society.

45. Collins coined the term “standpoint epistemology.”

46. The concept “standpoint” refers to an individual’s experiences and how they make sense of them.

47. A dialectical relationship involves two parties that are opposite and opposed.

48. Black feminist thought is developed primarily through academic research.

49. Collins contends that black feminist thought must be used to address injustices.

50. Collins argues that action and thought inform each other in a dialogical relationship.

Essay

51. Explain how the Institute for Social Research and the broader cultural context contributed to the rise of critical theory.

52. How do Marcuse and Adorno build on and challenge Marxism?

53. Connect Freud to Marcuse’s idea of surplus repression.

54. Define individualistic rationality and technological rationality, and explain their centrality to critical theory.

55. Briefly define the culture industry, and explain how it connects to pseudo-individualization.

56. Explain the following quotation: “The culture industry endlessly cheats its consumers out of what it endlessly promises.”

57. Discuss why the authors feel critical theorists’ primary theoretical orientation is collectivist and rationalist.

58. According to Adorno, how does the culture industry shape ideas about choice, freedom, and individual identity?

59. Explain the following quotation: “The new technological work-world enforces a weakening of the negative position of the working class.”

60. Explain Habermas’s concepts of the lifeworld and the system.

61. What is the role of media in the public sphere? What happens when the media consolidates?

62. How do money and power connect the lifeworld and the system?

63. Explain the strengths and weaknesses you perceive across the body of the critical theorists’ work.

64. Working within the critical theorists’ understanding of the subordination, discuss what Collins means by the term “matrix of domination.”

65. According to Collins, why do we need black feminist thought?