This essay reconstructs the critical notion of class. Firstly, it turns its attention to the methodological distinctiveness of critical theory and clarifies the key importance of Marx's critique of fetishized capitalist social forms in his sociological method. Secondly, it criticizes the sociological reconstructions of Marx's work that are unable to integrate his concept of class with his treatment of capitalist social objectivity. Thirdly, it shifts its focus to a contemporary interpretation of the critical concept of class in Bonefeld's work. Bonefeld derives the process of social constitution from Marx's theorization of primitive accumulation, which has left its imprint on capitalist conceptuality as such. On this basis, Bonefeld introduces a distinction between the affirmative and the critical concept of class. Finally, this essay, once again, stresses the interconnectedness and inseparability of the concepts of class and class struggle in critical theory and ponders their usage in the sociology of culture.
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