In this chapter, we introduce the reception of the ideas of the critical theorists of the Frankfurt School in Uruguayan academia. We explore two possible routes for this reception: (i) the analysis of culture and aesthetic experience which follows the first generation of the Frankfurt School; and (ii) the attempts to normatively ground social and political critique through critical theories of social justice and the analysis of social pathologies, which follow Habermas and the newer generations of the Frankfurt School. To explore the first route, we present the works of Ángel Rama, Gustavo Remedi, and Abril Trigo and show in which senses they are inheritors of (chiefly) Adorno’s and Benjamin’s concerns. Crucially, we argue, even when these authors distance themselves from the Frankfurtian claims regarding the ‘culture industry’, they still share the Frankfurt School’s critical and emancipatory thrust. Regarding the second route, we present the works of Gustavo Pereira and Ana Fascoli, who develop a virtuous collaboration between critical theory and post-Rawlsian theories of justice. We show how, in Pereira, a critical theory of justice is informed and assessed in light of its sensitivity to detect, and to push against, social pathologies. As we argue, both routes share a context-sensitive concern for emancipation.