Abstract

Michael Walzer, himself an accomplished social critic, has published some provocative ideas on the character and presuppositions of social criticism. His most notable commentary on these topics can be found in Interpretation and Social Criticism and The Company of Critics . My own study begins by constructing, from these and other writings, a model of the social critic. Aspects of the model are analyzed in subsequent chapters and Walzer's own social criticism is examined with a view to discovering the extent to which he exemplifies the model. ;An extensive investigation is made of the apparent discrepancy between Walzer's insistence that the critic be connected to his audience, and the judgment of other theorists that it is distance--the absence of connection--that is the sine qua non of social criticism. It is argued that Walzer's view is neither contradictory nor tautological, and that he may have succeeded in applying an interpretive method without sacrificing an orientation toward change. ;Ultimately, the model of Walzer's critic is examined from the perspective of its usefulness as a tool for understanding Walzer's own criticism, and its explanatory value as a general theory of social criticism and the social critic