HISTORICAL MATERIALISM (2018) 1-19 BRILL Review Article On the Development of the Critique of Political Economy as a Critical Social Theory of Economic Objectivity A Review of Critical Theory and the Critique of Political Economy by Werner Bonefetd Chris O'Kane Department of Economics and Political Science, John Jay College, The City University of New York cokane@jjey.cunyedu Abstract ‘This review-essay assays Werner Bonefeld’s timely attempt to unite contemporary crit- ical theory with the critique of political economy. [begin by contextualising Bonefeld's contribution in relation to the dearth of material on this issue in contemporary an- glophone critical theory. I then discuss the anglophone reception of Adornian critical theory and provide an overview of the development of the subterranean critical-the- ‘oretical interpretations of the critique of political economy that Adomo influenced which have been aceluded by the former. This sets up my discussion of how Bonefeld has taken up, criticised and developed this subterranean strand in critical theory and the critique of political economy. I close with some criticisms of how Bonefeld ad- dresses the relationship between critical theory and the critique of political economy and point toward several areas of further investigation that are intended to extend this approach to the contemporary critical theory of society: © KONINKLUKE BRILL NV, LEIDEN, 2018 | DOI 10.1163/1569206N-12891552