This book investigates how national cultures from the late seventeenth century to the present have utilized academic criticism to regulate the democratic subject through the intersection of aesthetics, ethics, and politics. Thomas Docherty, a scholar of critical theory and literature, examines the historical development of criticism as a socio-cultural practice. He argues that the academic form of argumentation has historically served to discipline the individual within the framework of the nation-state, drawing upon a wide array of European philosophical and literary texts to support this claim.

Scholars and critics frequently identify this work as a rigorous contribution to the history of ideas and the sociology of literature. Readers often note the academic density of the prose, which requires a strong background in European philosophy to fully engage with the author's complex arguments.