Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer: 'The Culture Industry: Enlighntenment as Mass Deception'

Adorno & Horkheimer

This week's reading consited of Adorno and Horkheimer's ideas of 'The Culture Industry: Enlighntenment as Mass Deception'. This reading was a lot difficult than the last, (McLuhan: Medium is the Message, (See last week's post)), as it was very long and loquacious. Before reading, it was important that we understood the background of both Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer as it would help with the analysis of this reading. The two writers were part of the Frankfurt School, along with Walter Benjamin, Herbert Macuse and Erich Fromm. It is vital to remember that the Frankfurt School consists of Marxist theories in which main are study is Social Development.

From what I have learnt in the past about Marxism, it is clear that the Marx's are influenced by a number of different aspects, consisting of; the relationship between people who own the means of production and the rest of society, (Producers V.S. Audiences) and the concern about culture in which is colonized by capitalism, (Manipulation V.S. Enlightenment).

Diagram from Fredric Jameson's Late Marxism

For this reading it was important to understand the definition of the world 'Culture'. Culture, as a definition is a society in which follow the same norms and values in a community. This can mean that they all share the same fashion style, music genres and/or even similar beliefs. The norms and values need to come from somewhere. But the question is; where can they come from? This question links to the idea of ideology. Ideology is the ideas or manners of a thinking group, individual or social class. So from this it is clear to see  that the ideologies from certain cultures need to come from a powerful source. A relevant idea of a 'powerful source', are political leaders. They pass their ideas/beliefs to society in order for the public to decide whether or not they are good enough to lead the country. The political leader's ideas/beliefs then become what society dwells on. This can also link to Antonio Gramsci's idea of Hegemony.

Antonio Gramsci

Now that the theory behind the reading is cleared up, let me begin by briefly explaining the reading. In brief terms, Adorno and Horkheimer noted the main topic of the chapter was the 'industrialisation of culture'. According to what I had learnt in lecture and from further reading, i found that industrialisation is when social and economic change occurs and then transforms a human group from an agrarain society into an industrial one.


An aspect of Adorno and Horkheimer's studies suggested that the media can change a culture's mind and sometimes pragmatically state what beliefs that culture should follow or abide by. This can be seen in some advertising materials. The more we see the same thing over and over again, the more likely we will see this as correct and therefore, changing our views on society (and media). In a way, this is on the equivalent with politics as we are persuaded to vote for political parties.


I stand by my first feeling about the reading as I found this reading extremely difficult at first, however when I had finished the long strenuous text, I felt, myself, some 'enlightenment' as what Adorno and Horkheimer was trying to sa had finally clicked. In the words of Adorno and Horkheimer; 'To standardise media is to standardise people'. In simpler terms, if we continue to believe in dominant ideologies, and what the media says, we will all begin to act similar and therefore producing a 'standardised society'.