Critical social theory in Germany is currently in a period of transition. The 75-year-old "Frankfurt
School" tradition was led first by Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno, and then by Jürgen
Habermas. Although Habermas and other members of the "second generation" remain active, his
1994 retirement marked the end of an era and the emergence of a new generation in critical social
theory, led by Axel Honneth. Though the criteria for a generation are no less problematic than those
of a "school" - there are thorny issue of who's in and who's out, or whether members of the new
generation have so "betrayed" the tradition as to not belong to it - this changing of the guard allows
some historical perspective on key turns in critical social theory in Germany.The present essay
aims to characterize this new generation of German critical social theorists both in its distinctiveness
and in its continuity with the broad Frankfurt School tradition
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