Praxis Seminar Series 2025-26: Session 18

A.J.A. Woods

Brighton, UK

The Frankfurt School and the Cultural Marxism Conspiracy

28 April 2026, 17:15

Sala Mattos Romão (Room C201.J – Department of Philosophy)

School of Arts and Humanities – University of Lisbon

 

Abstract

“Cultural Marxism,” or “Marxismo Cultural,” is one of the far right’s favorite buzzwords – but what does it mean and how does it function? In this talk, I examine the meaning and weaponization of the so-called “Cultural Marxism conspiracy theory.” According to this theory, the Frankfurt School invented the ideologies of multiculturalism, feminism and environmentalism to trigger the demise of a supposedly pristine Western capitalist civilization. I suggest that the history of this idea is more complex than previously recognized. Cultural Marxism, I argue, is neither a mere revival of earlier antisemitic canards (“Judeo-Bolshevism” and “Cultural Bolshevism”) nor a singular and unchanging “conspiracy theory.” Rather, I engage in the post-Gramscian tradition of conjunctural analysis to contextualize the different uses of this idea within their own unique historical trajectories. Instead of offering a linear narrative, I demonstrate the need for a ‘patchwork’ of the plural histories that have shaped the narratives of Cultural Marxism/s. I propose a fresh reading of Gramsci to develop a new approach to intellectual history that captures the institutional and ideological practices that produce the various articulations of Cultural Marxism/Marxismo Cultural. At the end of my talk, I reflect on the striking affinities – and startling divergences – between the theories of the Frankfurt School theorists themselves and the claims of those who seek to caricature the historical legacy of critical theory.

 

This activity is funded by Portuguese national funds through FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P., within the project UID/00310/2025, Centro de Filosofia da Universidade de Lisboa (DOI: https://doi.org/10.54499/UID/00310/2025).