Luc Boltanski is Professor of Sociology at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales, Paris

• Preface1 The Structure of Critical Theories2 Critical Sociology and Pragmatic Sociology of Critique3 The Power of Institutions4 The Necessity of Critique5 Political Regimes of Domination6 Emancipation in the Pragmatic Sense

"This work of depth and originality represents a major step in Luc Boltanski's remarkable intellectual trajectory. Having moved from Bourdieusian 'critical sociology' to pragmatic 'sociology of critique,' Boltanski now seeks to develop a third approach, overcoming the weaknesses of both. The result is a powerful conception of critique, grounded in the radical uncertainty that underlies social life and in the contradictory efforts of institutions to defuse it. On Critique seals his reputation as the leading philosophical sociologist of our era."Nancy Fraser, New School for Social Research "With surprising sociological imagination, Boltanski shows how the critique of institutions is based on the everyday experience of a discrepancy between reality and the world, between what is socially defined and what could be possible in an undefined way. Without intending to, Boltanski revitalizes Adorno's insights in a sociological manner. This book is to be read by everyone interested in the future of critical theory."Axel Honneth, Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Frankfurt

Luc Boltanski is Professor of Sociology at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales, Paris

• Preface1 The Structure of Critical Theories2 Critical Sociology and Pragmatic Sociology of Critique3 The Power of Institutions4 The Necessity of Critique5 Political Regimes of Domination6 Emancipation in the Pragmatic Sense

"This work of depth and originality represents a major step in Luc Boltanski's remarkable intellectual trajectory. Having moved from Bourdieusian 'critical sociology' to pragmatic 'sociology of critique,' Boltanski now seeks to develop a third approach, overcoming the weaknesses of both. The result is a powerful conception of critique, grounded in the radical uncertainty that underlies social life and in the contradictory efforts of institutions to defuse it. On Critique seals his reputation as the leading philosophical sociologist of our era."Nancy Fraser, New School for Social Research "With surprising sociological imagination, Boltanski shows how the critique of institutions is based on the everyday experience of a discrepancy between reality and the world, between what is socially defined and what could be possible in an undefined way. Without intending to, Boltanski revitalizes Adorno's insights in a sociological manner. This book is to be read by everyone interested in the future of critical theory."Axel Honneth, Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Frankfurt

Luc Boltanski is Professor of Sociology at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales, Paris

• Preface1 The Structure of Critical Theories2 Critical Sociology and Pragmatic Sociology of Critique3 The Power of Institutions4 The Necessity of Critique5 Political Regimes of Domination6 Emancipation in the Pragmatic Sense

"This work of depth and originality represents a major step in Luc Boltanski's remarkable intellectual trajectory. Having moved from Bourdieusian 'critical sociology' to pragmatic 'sociology of critique,' Boltanski now seeks to develop a third approach, overcoming the weaknesses of both. The result is a powerful conception of critique, grounded in the radical uncertainty that underlies social life and in the contradictory efforts of institutions to defuse it. On Critique seals his reputation as the leading philosophical sociologist of our era."Nancy Fraser, New School for Social Research "With surprising sociological imagination, Boltanski shows how the critique of institutions is based on the everyday experience of a discrepancy between reality and the world, between what is socially defined and what could be possible in an undefined way. Without intending to, Boltanski revitalizes Adorno's insights in a sociological manner. This book is to be read by everyone interested in the future of critical theory."Axel Honneth, Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Frankfurt