Pathology Diagnosis and Social Research

“This very wide-ranging and stimulating book is a major contribution to theory and research in social pathology, which has always been a major focus of critical social theory and is now increasingly prominent in current debates.”

— William Outhwaite, Newcastle University, UK

“The planet is dying. The body politic is ill. The social organism is decaying. In this incisive book, authors of the fourth generation of critical theory propose a diagnosis of the social pathologies of the present and put their fingers on the open wounds of critical theory.”
— Frédéric Vandenberghe, University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil


The diagnosis of social pathologies has long been a central concern for social researchers working within, and on the peripheries of, Critical Theory. As this volume will elaborate, the pathology diagnosing imagination enables a “thicker” form of social critique, fostering research that pushes beyondthe parameters of liberal social and political thought. Faced with impending climatic catastrophe, the accelerating inequities of neoliberalism, the ascent of authoritarian movements globally, and one-dimensional computational modes of thought, a viable form of normative social critique is now more important than ever. The central aim of this volume is thus to champion the pathology diagnosing imagination as a vehicle for conducting such timely social criticism.

Neal Harris is Lecturer in Sociology, Department of Social Sciences, Oxford Brookes University, UK.