Dan Krier organizes critical social theory symposium

Professor Dan Krier organized a three-day critical social theory symposium, Kontrapunkt, in Des Moines, Iowa, April 5-7. The event was co-organized by Harry Dahms, professor of Sociology at University of Tennessee-Knoxville, William Swart, professor of Sociology at Augustana University, with graduate student co-organizer Addison Williamson.

More than 40 participants attended workshop-length discussions on the critical theories of Theodor W. Adorno and Max Horkheimer. Sessions focused upon Adorno’s Sociology of Music, science fiction and the dialectic of enlightenment, and the unique structure of late capitalism.This is the first in a series of three conferences in the sociological theory network focused on cross-generational engagement with Adorno’s sociology, with the next held at Innsbruck, Austria, in July and a final event at the International Social Theory Consortium annual meeting in Knoxville, Tennessee, in April 2025.