Aspects of the New Right-Wing Extremism

• Theodor W. Adorno

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In 1967, Theodor W. Adorno gave a lecture at the University of Vienna which, from today's perspective, holds more than it's only scientific-historical significance. He warned of the danger posing to the democracy at the time, by the political rise of the far-right National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD). It's political success in many ways can be compared to the recent rise of the radical right gathered in the Alternative for Germany (AfD), but also to the rise of other radical right-wing movements in European countries. Therefore the publication with this lecture, even after fifty years, arouses great interest of the European political and intellectual public.

In this book Adorno analyzes the resources, tactics, and dynamics of the new right-wing radicalism at the time. Contrary to the "old" and well-known Nazi fascism, he pays special attention to the mechanisms and tricks by which radical right-wing movements, twenty years after the end of World War II, secured new enthusiastic support from the West German population. The author's skillfully posed questions and answers, which he gives with the help of indisputable scientific facts, help us understand many contemporary political phenomena.

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Nowadays, the specter which Adorno's lecture is dedicated to is still far from deliverance; it is circulating in society again as a new right-wing radicalism. Therefore, it is even more important to refresh the awareness of the structure of fascist agitation and the socio-psychological basis of its success. Even after half a century, the enduring irrefutability of Adorno's analysis, parts of which are read as a commentary on current events, is surprising.
Volker Weiß

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Adorno's analysis of the new right-wing radicalism, among other things, enables a better insight into contemporary social circumstances, into images of society shaped by new media that unify all opinions and question the authority of knowledge. Adorno was well aware that in that way, freedom itself was in question. And the escape from freedom and taking personal responsibility is not only the main feature of the authoritarian personality but also the foundation for the development of the new radical right movement.
Tihomir Cipek

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Theodor Wiesengrund Adorno (Frankfurt am Main, 11 September 1903 - Viège, Switzerland, 6 August 1969) was a German philosopher, sociologist, musicologist, composer and a member of the neo-Marxist Frankfurt School of social theory and critical philosophy. He studied philosophy, sociology and psychology at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main, where, with a thesis on Husserl's phenomenology, he received his doctorate in philosophy in 1924. There he taught at the Institute for Social Research, and after National Socialism came to power he emigrated to Merton College in Oxford and later to the United States (New York and Los Angeles). Upon his return to Europe in 1949, he was director of the Institute for Social Research (since 1953) and professor of philosophy and sociology in Frankfurt am Main. His most prominent works include The Authoritarian Personality (1950), Negative Dialectics (1966), Dialectics of the Enlightenment (1947), Philosophy of New Music (1949), In search of Wagner (1952), Against Epistemiology: A Metacritique (1956) and Aesthetic Theory (1970).

• ISBN: 978-953-8075-90-2
• Dimensions: 125 x 200 mm
• Number of pages: 80
• Cover: paperback
• Year of the edition: 2021
• Original title: Aspekte des neuen Rechtsradikalismus - Ein Vortrag
• Original language: German
• Translation: Tihomir Cipek