Nancy Fraser’s work has had a significant influence on anti-capitalist politics over the past couple of decades. Some of her insights about the relationship between “redistribution” and “recognition” or the “dangerous liaison” of liberal feminism and anti-racism with neoliberal economic agendas have spread beyond left-wing academic circles and entered the vocabulary of political activism.

This is precisely what the tradition of critical theory, in which Fraser situates herself, hopes to achieve, by providing resources for the self-clarification of progressive political struggles. In a broader sense, Fraser has formulated a unique theorization of capitalism that responds innovatively to some of the most pressing questions of anti-capitalist political strategy.

Fraser’s theory of capitalism has evolved gradually over the years, and we could see her problem-driven, pragmatic, and dialogical road to formulating a systematic account of capitalism as a model of how an engaged thinker should arrive at a “grand theory” of society.