Adorno's and the Frankfurt Schools Concept - Essay Example

?Running head: Discuss Adorno's and the Frankfurt schools concept that celebrities "are one of the means through which capitalism achieves its ends of subduing and exploiting the masses Name Name of instructor Date Adorno's and the Frankfurt schools concept It is with no doubt that today’s society is more obsessed with celebrities more than ever! In the past, teenagers were the ones that were more obsessed with celebrities, putting up posters of their favorite stars or the ones they had crushes on on their bedroom walls. Today, however, the celebrity culture affects people of all ages and races across countries and geographical places around the world regardless of their culture. According to Boldrin and Levine (2002), “…countries are better off facilitating processes that are attractive to multinational companies and countries” (p. 212). Furthermore, the western culture has had the biggest influence on many other cultures in the world, to the angst or happiness of different people. The internet and the advent of computers have had a very big role to play in this spread of celebrity lifestyle. unlike in the past, with the click of the mouse, a fan can follow what their favorite celebrity is doing, what they eat, where they live and the minutest details of their lives. This, many people tend to imitate. This has led to many companies endorsing celebrities to market their products, banking on the fact that whatever the celebrities will be wearing, eating or be seen with will have the masses of their fans following suit, hence increase their sales. Needless to say, this does not come cheap, both to the endorsing companies and to the masses following blindly. Social control is a phenomenon that is experienced by masses in the world, whether they are aware of it or not. It s described as the influence on individuals’ behaviors by institutions in the public through public opinion, social and religious organizations, use of force or violence, through appealing to people’s emotions and desires and also through use of leaders or celebrities in order to bring out certain reactions from the public in general. In the past, social control was a positive force that was meant to keep the fabric of society intact and keep evil and criminal activities at bay. However, with the media becoming more and more powerful, they have tapped into the idea of social control to influence people in order to gain monetary and other kinds of benefits, at the detriment of the whole society. This is seen through the influence caused by advertisements, TV and radio programs and wide coverage of celebrity lives, making masses desire the same kind and try to imitate this. Hui (2002) points out that “we found that, at least in the case of movies, the supply of creative work responded to economic incentives and consumer behavior” (p. 217.). The fact that the world has become largely capitalist is a factor that is stoking this flame. The result of this is mass deception, where the populations are made to believe that what they are seeing is the ideal of life and that they should strive to achieve these standards set by the media and celebrities. This is despite the fact that the lives celebrities live cost a fortune and cannot be achieved, at least in the short run, by most ordinary people. The result is that people have engaged in very destructive habits in order to buy into this deception. These habits include borrowing and using credit facilities beyond their means in order to get what the media has suggested, gambling, criminal activities, disregarding the old methods of working hard in order to achieve success and instead depending too much on lotteries and wasting more money, amongst other socially deviant activities in order to feed their desires. According to The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception" Adorno and Horkheimer Frankfurt school, this is exactly what the media and the celebrity culture is using to deceive the masses. In their argument, Adorno and Horkheimer dispute the school of thought that argues consumers are being simply given what they desire (Adorno & Bernstein, 2001, p. 10-90). They argue that most times consumers do not necessarily know what they want and that industries and the media are exploiting this fact to influence their thinking, and then provide consumers with their products. The Adorno and Horkheimer Frankfurt school gives an example of how choice and the power to make decisions independently have been denied of individuals by the move from using telephones to the mass media like the radio. In the latter, the individual had free will to pick up the phone and have the choice to call. However, in the latter, the individual is forced to listen and creatively bombarded with choices and decisions already made for them. In this way, consumers are made to believe they have choice, yet they do not. Adorno and Bernstein (2001) point out that According to Marx, people are “an ensemble of social relations and live .....of a number of unequal social relations ... define the historical specificity of the capitalist modes of production and reproduction...” (p. 75.). David Marshall and Ellis Cashmore in their writings agree on one thing; that the celebrity culture is more ingrained in society more than ever. People have not only become obsessed with celebrities, but they idolize them like some sort of gods and worship them and everything they do. In his research, Professor Ellis Cashmore has conducted various researches, case studies and researched on the lives of various celebrities in order to gauge their impacts on the lives of the general population. In his book, Celebrity culture, Cashmore observes how the media is using all manner of ways to excite people’s emotions towards celebrities. This, he observes, happens through film, advertisements and endorsements, films and on their web sites and other forms of social media. Unlike in the past where only actors and musicians were idolized, there has emerged a new breed of celebrities including reality television participants, sports men and women, socialites, political figures and even religious figures (Cashmore 2006, p. 50). Cashmore points out that the media gives such celebrities such wide coverage, from their public lives to the minutest details of their private lives, whether true or rumored, especially through tabloids. Cashmore points out that this celebrity culture could be poisonous to society since it demands ideals that cannot be easily met by common people. This leaves many people with feelings of inefficiencies, while others place themselves in precarious positions, if only to get a taste of the celebrity life. In agreement is David Marshall who is the editor of the book “The Celebrity Culture Reader”. In his book, Marshall notices how people following celebrities tend to absorb and try to imitate every move made by celebrities. From how they dress to what they believe in or the causes they stand for, celebrities command huge followings of people who want to be like them. Marshall notices that being different or unique is a quality that is no longer admirable in today’s society. People are no longer interested in making the best of what they have, but clamor to imitate their celebrities right to the core. The result is frustrations by people who cannot measure up for one reason or another, most of which is caused by the lack of financial muscle that celebrities enjoy. Marshall also points out that this celebrity culture has resulted into social evils and disorders as people try to conform to the standards and ideals that have been set out by these celebrities. These include eating disorders like anorexia nervosa and bulimia as women and men of all ages including teenagers try to be rail thin, loose morals and feelings of low self-esteem and worthlessness (Marshall 2006, p. 10-100). In a corporate world full of competition and consumers surrounded with a lot of choices for various products, companies need to do whatever it is to sway consumers to buy their products rather than those of their competitors. From online marketing, colorful advertisements on both print and TV’s, radios and web sites to huge bill boards placed strategically to attract clients, companies are not leaving anything to chance as far as expanding their shares of the market is concerned. Cowen (2000) says “Fame has benefits... and in satisfying a broad diversity of tastes...” (p. 25). Companies will, therefore, jump on any opportunity available that draws large numbers of people together. Celebrities are one of these avenues and many large companies have used them to persuade consumers to use their products (Ferris 2001, p. 25-47). Celebrity sports people have been used to endorse shoes, beautiful, famous actresses and models have been seen on advertisements for clothes stores, perfumes and bags, handsome and well-built celebrities have been seen on advertisements for energy drinks and so forth. According to Hamish Pringle, author of the book Celebrity Sells, companies should take full advantage of the general population’s obsession with celebrities in order to sell their products (Pringle 2004, p. 21-40). He however cautions companies to be careful of the celebrities they endorse to be the faces of their products since adverse publicity could affect them if the celebrity endorsed faces bad publicity. Pringle does agree that using celebrities does help sell because of the idolization people have on celebrities, leading to them imitating what the celebrity does as well as hanging on to every word or advice the celebrity gives out. Pringle however gives hope to consumers by stating that consumers do not necessarily buy into everything celebrities say because they know that they are being paid to do so. Pringle, nevertheless, believes that the culture of using celebrities to advertise products really is beneficial as long as companies understand their consumers and do this in the right manner in order to sway them. Capitalism goes hand in hand with democracies. After all it is only in democratic countries that people are given the freedom to choose what they want and acquire what they want as long as they are within the jurisdictions set out. In his writings, Gordon (2000) writes that “America also experienced increased employment and decreasing inflation due to increased productivity and due to its capital markets and democracy....” (p. 68). Often times, there are loopholes in these jurisdictions that people use to get more from the legal systems set out. Capitalism is all about free markets and the exchange of goods and services between willing buyers and sellers. In capitalism, all manner of goods and services can be sold as long as they are not illegal. Furthermore, individuals and companies can use any manner of ways to market their products as long as they do not harm other people, their businesses or their properties while they are conducting their businesses. on one hand, capitalism allows people to accumulate a lot of wealth by creating and marketing their goods and services creatively. On the other hand, capitalism has led to the exploitation of people and resources by people, leaving more people poor and miserable than well off. In short, capitalism has led to unequal distribution of resources and power, where money dictates everything and those without are left at the mercy of those with lots of money. In contrast, Marxist theories have always advocated for equitable distribution of resources and wealth. Marxist theories seldom have a place in capitalist markets where equality hardly exists. Furthermore, Marx believed that the working masses, which was significantly larger in number than the rich elitists, could actually cause a revolution that would ensure that wealth was distributed equally. This idea could have worked well before today’s consumer age, where people tend to idolize celebrities, who happen to be among the rich elitists. It would be difficult, if not impossible; to successfully urge the masses to turn against the very people they adore, imitate and try to live with. Arato (1982) summarizes this by writing “...at the history of mankind, he was the "superman" whom Nietzsche only expected from the future. Even today the members of a group stand in need of the illusion that they are equally and justly loved by their leader...?” (p.16). Furthermore, in the capitalist world, money is the main ‘god’ and whoever has the money has the following. It would be swimming against the tide trying to convince people to turn against their celebrities. Adorno and Horkheimer believed that the time for social revolution to change the order of societal classes is gone because people no longer think for themselves; rather they have conformed to the influence of society and celebrities to guide how they should live. In Arato (1982), he quotes Adorno and Hoheimer as saying “... the time when the working class could be the tool of overthrowing capitalism is over” (p. 24).Capitalism also tends to encourage the celebrity culture. The celebrity culture thrives on the movement of all goods and services by all means possible. Capitalism easily allows for this to happen. In today’s world of consumerism, the celebrity can be seen as a nicely packaged product that can be sold to the masses after the influence from the media. The media can be used to sway people’s opinions and can break or make celebrities. The movement of celebrities as products is not restricted, hence easily moved and fed on people’s minds in order to make money. In conclusion, celebrity status and the culture of celebrities play an important role in consumer trends and patterns. People are faced with the ideals presented by celebrities on a daily basis, deciding for them what is good and what should be discarded. As role models that people look up to, celebrities and their makers tend to shape the ideals that people conform to by how they live their lives, talk to, associate with and even marry. The capitalist nature of most markets exacerbates this by allowing such material to flow freely throughout their jurisdictions, seeing no harm to these materials. Capitalist markets usually have few restrictions and as long as the content being spread is not directly harmful to consumers, like hard drugs or pornography, they pass the test. References Adorno, T. A and Bernstein, J. A., 2001. The culture industry. New York: Routledge. Arato, A. ed. 1982. The Essential Frankfurt School Reader. New York: Continuum. Boldrin, M. and Levine, D. 2002. The Case Against Intellectual Property. American Economic Review. 92, 2: 209 – 212. Cashmore, E, 2006. Celebrity Culture. United Kingdom: Routledge Cowen, T. 2000. What Price Fame? Cambridge: Harvard. Ferris, K.O, 2001. Through a Glass, Darkly: The Dynamics of Fan-Celebrity Encounters. Symbolic Interaction. 24. Pp. 25-47. Gordon, R.J. 2000. Does the “New Economy” Measure up to the Great Inventions of the Past? Journal of Political Economy. 14, 4: 49 – 74. Hui, K. 2002. On the Supply of Creative Work: Evidence from the Movies. American Economic Review. 92, 2: 217 – 220. Marshall, P. D. ed. 2006. The Celebrity Culture Reader. New York; Routledge Pringle, H, 2004. Celebrity sells. West Sussex, England; Chichester Read More