Culture Industry Critique of T. Adorno and M. Horkheimer - Essay Example

? Explain T. Adorno and M. Horkheimer’s critique of the culture industry and discuss whether these are still relevant for understanding cultural production today? Name: Course Name: Date Introduction As the name suggest, culture industry refers to production of culture in an industrial setting. Therefore, culture is produced and consumed like any other industrial commodity. According to Theodor Adorno, commercialisation of culture is a capitalistic idea whose main goal is to maximise profit. Culture is the slave of the corporate which is used to gain profit. To achieve their goal, the culture on the market must be attractive to the larger segment of the group or society (Adorno & Horkheimer, 1979). Theodor Adorno and Horkheimer have critically analysed the concept of a culture industry. They view the idea as a continuation of a capitalistic system, which aims to reduce cost of production while increasing profit. In a pure capitalistic setting, the factors of production are used efficiently to attain maximum benefits. For example, workers are paid according to their input contribution, which encourage high labour utility. Marxist theory predicted that the capitalist system will eventually fall because it will trigger a social revolution from the exploited workers. The work of the two scholars is pointing out why the social revolution did not happen as anticipated by Marx. Mass media technology is the main factor of production in industrial culture, which includes; use of radio, television and publications. Mass media technology allows information to spread quickly to a large audience (Bottomore, 1984). To understand the critic of Adorno and Horkheimer, it is important to note that they are products of the German culture, which they viewed as superior to the popular culture of many western nations. They referred their culture as high culture that educates and motivates people. On their observation, popular culture is not exciting, and it enhances uniformity in a society. To these analysts, culture industry leads to standardisation in the society, which refers to being accustomed to the products of the culture industry. This makes the public to be addicted to the mass culture and forget to challenge the inequality of the ruling economic system (Marcuse, 1964). In their theory of pseudo individuality, they claim that the culture industry makes an individual a commodity of trade, which is produced and sold in mass. For instance, a music work of an artist can be reproduced in mass and sold to consumers. The artist involved is advertised and treated like any other industrial product making person lose their individual identity as a human being (Adorno, 2001). According to two scholars, the mass culture is the trickery system that politicians use to attain their desired goals, so the popular culture is the tool that enables them to gain support of the masses. For example, during the Second World War, the mass entertainment and information was used to rally Americans to approve and support a war that was long and costly (Kellner, 2003). According to Jarvis (1998) mass media is a deception idea which is meant to enslave the public. Popular culture is the product of all the social classes in a society, but commercialisation of culture differentiated the structure so that they can sell to the larger group in the market. The corporations involved in production and marketing of culture are inherently capitalistic hence they propagate capitalistic ideology. The theorist found the mass media to be blind of the social inequalities in a society. It makes people forget the plain truth of economic and social differences, making them appear as if they are living in a dark cave. Just like in a capitalist system, culture industry uses its own ways of dominance to ensure the control of the masses and the continuity of the system. Therefore, the mass media is the main tool of dominance in the culture industry, which ensures people consume the products of the industry (Martin-Barbero, 1993). It encourages people to forget challenging the government and pursue pleasure, which clearly points out that popular culture is controlled by the ruling elite. In pre-capitalist and capitalist systems, the tools of dominance were important in controlling of people. The master used the military and restricting access to resources to dominate over others. Early industrial capitalist like Ford in the US used racial segregation as a way of controlling workers. To maximise profit, it is always strategic to position the enterprise in a monopolistic setting. Marxism theory postulates that profit is the main engine driving the capitalist and its systems are modeled to achieve it. In addition, they argue that popular culture uses feelings to come with excitement and trigger endless need for more gratification among the audience (Negus, 1997). They also claim that the culture industry whether is movies or otherwise will result to intangible relationship between people and objects. This makes individuals slaves of the mass culture. Although capitalism seems an irresistible phenomenon, it suppresses the mental strength of the people for it to thrive. Furthermore, they argue that the culture industry makes culture a good that provides excitement or pleasure to the exploited masses. Through films and emotional music, the public is enabled to express their feelings in dance and singing (Gendron, 1986). This strengthens the intangible relationship between the masses and the culture industry, which in turn converts them to act against their own concerns and preserve the power of the capitalist. Adorno was also critical of artistic work, claiming that it is another good for the consumer market. Museums and art archive are other fashions of cultural industry, which trades in art for profit. He criticized the commodification of jazz music. According to the scholars, culture industry produces art and sells it like any other tangible industrial good (Zuidervaart, 1991). The modern capitalists control and use the media to propagate their ideology. For example, in America President George Bush used the media to rally the public to support the Iraq war, which was not popular among the citizens. Journalists joined the military in the war to make sure that the public is updated on the war front. The media were used to report the positive progress of the war. In the end, Americans approved a war that was costly. From this example, it is clear that the critics of Adorno and Horkheimer on mass media are still relevant in the modern times. In the modern times, the use of the internet as grown tremendously and the modern media as also embraced the new technology. However, the use of the internet has not shifted the power form the ruling class to the public. Recently, the government of the US was accused of spying on her people, pointing out that modern information technologies is used as a way of controlling others in a globalised setting. Just as it was in the pre-capitalist and capitalist times, the ruling class in the globalised capital system will use the media and information technologies to foster their ideologies. Well established capitalists control culture production in the globalised world. For instance, the American culture is more popular in the world, making other nations the consumers of the American cultural products. American movies and documentaries are widely available in the globe, which makes the culture of the US dominant. According to Adorno and Horkheimer, dominating ideology will render the thoughts of other people irrelevant making them captive of the ideology. In other words, the consumer will be sold to the dominant culture. The critics of the culture industry may not stand liberal idea of the modern democracies. This system allows freedom of an individual, which leads to the emergence of non- conforming habits in the society, for example, homosexuality. The surfacing of such groups that do not conform to the normal norms will weaken the system of capitalism. Although the internet can be manipulated by the ruling class, it also allows people in different parts of the world to interact and exchange ideas. This involves the use of blog sites, emails and social media to challenge and criticise thoughts via the internet, which weakens the domination of the capital system. Conclusion In summary, the culture industry is a trickery idea of the ruling elite. It is meant to keep the public in the dark so that the system of capitalism continuous to grow. It brings uniformity in the society, limiting individualism and criticism of the ruling structure. Mass culture inhibits creativity in a society because it does not allow generation of new ideas through imagination. It makes people captive to the ideas of few people hence leading to standardization of norms. However, the industry seems to change in modern liberal democracies which allow people to deviate from the norms and also exchange ideas. References Adorno, T & Horkheimer, M 1979, ‘The culture industry: Enlightenment as mass deception’ in Dialectic of Enlightenment, London: Verso (2nd edition), pp 120 - 167. Adorno, T 2001, ‘Culture industry reconsidered’ in The culture industry. Selected essays on mass culture, New York and London: Routledge, pp 85 - 92 Marcuse, H 1964, One Dimensional Man, London, Abacus. Bottomore, T 1984, Chapter 1 The Frankfurt School, Tavistock. Gendron, B 1986, ‘Theodor Adorno Meets the Caddillacs’ in T Modleski (ed) Studies in Entertainment, University of Wisconsin Press. Negus, K 1997, ‘The production of culture’, in Du Gay (Ed) Production of Cultures. Cultures of Production, London: Sage, pp 67-118. Kellner, D 2003, 'Theory wars and cultural studies' (chapter 1), Media culture: cultural studies, identity and politics between the modern and the postmodern, London: Routledge. Martin-Barbero, J 1993, ‘The culture industry’ (Chapter 3), in Communication, Culture and Hegemony, London: Sage. Jarvis, S. 1998. Chapter 3 in Adorno, Polity Press. Zuidervaart, L 1991, Adorno's Aesthetic theory: the redemption of illusion. Cambridge, Mass. London: MIT Press. Read More