Activism versus Criticism? The Case for a Distinctive Role for Social Critics

This essay makes a distinction between the roles that activists and social critics can play in democratic societies defends separate tasks of non-activist critic. Drawing on Ralph Waldo Emerson’s writings, I argue are better situated than to reach certain audiences, cultivate capacities, preserve their audience’s agency while doing so. In case, his concerns about activist contemporaries led him craft new ways critically engaging peers. At same time, as life also illustrates, limited by must forgo some distinctive advantages order do work. Clarifying scope critic’s role this way helps draw benefits position avoid overstepping its constraints, thereby allowing them more effectively promote political reform.