Systematic Issues in Critical Theory

I am interested in the analysis and systematic interconnection of phenomena like ideology, domination, oppression, reification and power; as well as in the intersection of critical theory and moral philosophy and the methodology of social critique. Much of my work centers around the idea that the main forms of domination and oppression in contemporary society are best described on the level of normative social practices that institute inequality not only on the level of outcomes, but also on the level of internal normative authority within those practices. I am currently working on a number of essays that make this systematic claim. In addition, I think that a theory of social practices can also recover valuable insights from classic theories of ideology. Ideology, on such an account, is not merely a cognitive mistake. Rather, as the vocabularies in which we frame our beliefs are an expression of socially shared distinctions, oppressive practices will often find their expression in limiting and distorting vocabularies. Finally, much of my already published work deals with the method of immanent critique, that is, the idea that critical theories do not use standards that are external to the social practices they criticize but refer to their immanent potentialities.