https://doi.org/10.1177/08969205211056354 Critical Sociology 2022, Vol. 48(7-8) 1293–1307 © The Author(s) 2021 Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions DOI: 10.1177/08969205211056354 journals.sagepub.com/home/crs Illusion and Non-Identity Thinking in Nietzsche’s Critical Theory Vasilis Grollios Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece Abstract The paper attempts to bring to the fore the radical character of Nietzsche’s critical theory. It argues that behind Nietzsche’s consideration of suffering lies both a critique of one-dimensional mass culture and fetishism, and a theory of alienation that is much closer to Marx’s critique of alienation in capitalism than is usually believed. Uniquely, it will also support the idea that Nietzsche holds a theory of a dialectics between content and form, that is of non-identity thinking, very similar to that of the first generation of the Frankfurt School, and will attempt to connect it to an attempt to doubt the core values sustaining capitalism. Keywords negative dialectics, alienation, fetishism, non-identity thinking Introduction In a period of crisis and uncertainty, such as the one in which we currently live, the philosophers who are the most relevant are those who place uncertainty and negativity at the forefront of their thinking. I contend that one such philosopher is Friedrich Nietzsche. Employing an unconven- tional approach, I will attempt to show that Nietzsche can make a significant contribution to a radical understanding of capitalism. In what follows, I will expand on how Nietzsche’s thought can help criticize the bourgeois form of democracy and dispel blithe acquiescence to it. More specifically, not only can his thinking denaturalize the values that support bourgeois democracy – that is to say, growth, as the perpetual accumulation of wealth, competition and hard work – but also challenge the view that efforts to alter society should be focused on calls for a more effective domination of the people, for another kind of state power or for the replacement of the elite that currently wields power, even by a party that claims to bring ‘growth with a human face’, as it usually happens currently. I will support the innovative view that Nietzsche indeed holds a notion of critique that brings him much closer to a possible support of democracy than he himself believed and most of his readers maintain, since, despite his reservations, he subscribes to a negative dialectics under- standing of it. The radical character of his philosophy approaches that of Marx, especially if we draw upon the reading of Marx as a negative dialectical thinker advanced by the first generation Corresponding author: Vasilis Grollios, Independent Postdoctoral Researcher, Thessaloniki, omirou 854639, Greece. Email: vgrollios@gmail.com 1056354CRS 0 0 10.1177/08969205211056354Critical SociologyGrollios research-article 2021 Article