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Critical theory belongs to both philosophical and empirical definitions. Critical theory outlooks media as weapons in struggling over political, social, economic and symbolic power, it also struggles over themselves in a part of media. This theory finds a way to depict faults and problems coated in a media and to relate it to social issues by few guided values. The variation relating to social and media can be distinguished as media-centric and society-centric approaches. Media-centric thrives to move forward by the development in communication technology.

Based on the tradition, Critical theory can be defined in two ways- Criticism and Critique. Both the words are derived from the Greek term Kritos and personify the meaning judgment. The theory of criticism is applied in Social theory, Literary and Language.

Critiquing and changing the society as a whole in accordance to change in the tradition is called Social theory. The Critical theory was first characterized by Max Horkheimer, a German-Jewish philosopher and sociologist. The theory aims at the totality of society, as to how it was arranged at a specific point of time. It also should instill all major social sciences such as geography, economics, sociology, history, political science, anthropology, and psychology, in order to make them understand the principles and structure of a society.

 Jurgen Habermas, a German sociologist and philosopher, discussed about knowledge and the study of knowledge i.e. Epistemology in his epitome, Knowledge and Human Interests. Hedefines critical knowledge to beprinciples that distinguished it either from the natural sciences or the humanities, through its orientation to self-reflection and liberation.

Later, the critical social theory was referred as a theory of communication.  Communicative competence and communicative rationality on the one hand, distorted communication on the other, blend together and developed gradually.  This version of “critical” theory derives from the notion of literary criticism as establishing and enhancing the understanding and evaluation of literature in the search for truth. Some consider literary theory merely an aesthetic concern, as articulated, for example, in Joseph Addison’s notion of a critic as one who helps understand and interpret literary works: “A true critic ought to dwell rather upon Excellencies than imperfections, to discover the concealed beauties of a writer, and communicate to the world such things as are worth their observation.” This notion of criticism ultimately goes back to Aristotle’s Poetics as a theory of literature.

Critical theory in literature and the humanities in general does not necessarily involve a normative dimension, whereas critical social theory does, either through criticizing society from some general theory of values, norms, or “oughts,” or through criticizing it in terms of its own espoused values. The critical theory in terms of media, sociology, and philosophy has a common motto and principles. These theories, as they gradually change, enhance development to all varied categories of subjects.

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