Through this kind of criticism, argued Marx, humanity might liberate
itself from the dictates and compulsions of established ways of thinking
and the established forms of social life. In doing so, it could emancipate
humanity from political oppression and the ways of thinking which
legitimated it. In recognizing the importance of critique, critical social
science focuses its attention on forms of social life which subjugate
people and deny satisfactory and interesting lives to some while serving
the interests of others. But it is particularly focused on the ways of
thinking which support such subjugation, whether in the oppression
of one class by another, or in the dominance of a way of thinking
which makes such oppression seem unproblematic, inevitable,
incidental, or even justified.