New Critical Theory surveys contemporary leftist thought while introducing the tenets of this new form of critical theory. Beginning with an exploration of the relationship between Marxism, Habermas, and the politics of identity, William S. Wilkerson and Jeffrey R. Paris present a collection that critiques the globalization of capital. The development of personality appears as subject to socialized standards in an age of global capitalism. Only after scrutinizing the effects of such a system can liberation be found. The essays within join Critical Theory with postmodern insights on language and subjectivity to provide a more comprehensive view of emancipatory social theory. Through this and other refelctions on critical race, gender, and queer theories, Wilkerson and Paris emerge with an encompassing volume defining New Critical Theory.

"New Critical Theory is an important, philosophically sophisticated book that ought to be read by anyone who has felt the pull of philosophical dissonance. It is a book that ought to be read by all those who are intellectually accustomed to reading the works of those who continue to testify against continuing injustice. It is also a book that demands to be read by all of those frustrated by the futile in-fighting that has dogged Critical theory for several decades. This book has the potential for constructing new bridges both between the various clans that comprise Critical theory and across to other intellectual traditions that have been unduly neglected by and overly canonical reading of Critical theory." - Philosophy in Review