Introduction: The Frankfurt School and Authoritarian Populism – A Historical Outline

One of the most famous messages from the Institute for Social Research is that liberal-democratic societies tend to move toward fascism. With the recent surge of far-Right populism throughout the West, this Frankfurt School warning reveals its prescience. Many other insights pertinent to authoritarian and populist trends are contained in their writings. The work of the early Frankfurt School demands concerted revisiting, and such is the purpose of the present volume, Critical Theory and Authoritarian Populism. Before providing an outline of its contents ‘Critical Theory and ‘authoritarian populism’ are defined as they are used in the chapter before providing a rough chronology of the early Frankfurt School, focusing on their writings about authoritarianism, prejudice and populism. Areas surveyed include early writings, theories of the Nazi state, working for the OSS in WWII, continuing potential for authoritarianism, empirical work in 1944-1951, Studies in Prejudice, Group Experiment, Marxism contra Stalinism, the university and the 1960s student movement.