
The paper discusses the proliferation of the emancipatory promises in discourses of critical sociology. The stimulation of reflexivity and agency, that is commonly associated with emancipation, is usually uncritically regarded as sine qua non of social development. As a consequence of “the emancipation boom” the notion of emancipation is becoming blurred and vaguely comprehensive, and critical analyses of power and subjectivity are losing their rebellious potential. On the one hand, the idea of emancipation is being reduced to an activist social praxis and to a technology of empowerment. On the other hand, the idea of emancipation serves as a repressive measure of evaluating human activities. These problems are illustrated with an example of post colonialism and socially involved performance studies. Today it seems necessary to juxtapose critical sociology and sociology of critique – and return to the critique of the notion of critique itself. Michel Foucault’s concept of critique could be a starting point for a metareflection.