Krise der Kritik

“Krise der Kritik?” is a historical research consortium at the Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities in Essen, Germany. It examines the history of critiques of capitalism during the final third of the twentieth century and seeks to explain the rise of neoliberalism by considering the relative weakness of its potential opponents. The project investigates whether criticism underwent a transformation or entered a crisis, especially during the 1980s and 1990s.

Its research explores shifts from questions of economic structure, power and distribution toward human rights, consumer protection, environmental issues and identity politics, alongside the erosion of neo-Marxist criticism and the growth of New Social Movements. It also considers how the political changes of 1989–90 affected these developments, and how globalization-critical activism gained strength in the late 1990s. The consortium currently brings together four research projects associated with Tim Schanetzky’s Heisenberg project.

Topics include television criticism, housing policy, the history of historiography and the activist use of shareholder meetings. The website shares project updates, publications, people and a glossary