Cologne: Lambert Academic Publishing

Through publications such as The Struggle for Recognition: the moral grammar of social conflicts (1995) and Disrespect: the normative foundations of critical theory (2007), the work of Axel Honneth, Director of the Institute of Social Research in Frankfurt (site of the famous Frankfurt School), is starting to gain prominence in sociology, political science and philosophy. At one stage a student of Jürgen Habermas, he shares with his former teacher a commitment to continuing and updating the core activity of critical theory – namely to develop coherent theoretical analyses of modern sources of conflict that can be appropriated by those engaged in social change. The current interest in Honneth’s work revolves primarily around his contribution to this praxis-oriented version of social science and social philosophy. This takes the form of a theory of recognition, a comprehensive and paradigm-shifting approach to reconnecting the micro and macro, agency and structural levels of social thought. Developed over at least two decades, the work of Honneth on recognition finds strong parallels in the work of other prominent theorists such as Charles Taylor and Nancy Fraser. In summary, recognition theorists argue that the drive towards personal autonomy and self-realisation can only be achieved intersubjectively – through the process of recognition from significant others