"Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception" is a chapter in Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer's book "Dialectic of Enlightenment." This chapter discusses their famous concept of the "culture industry." Adorno and Horkheimer view the culture industry in capitalist society as an aspect of enlightenment that has betrayed itself by allowing instrumental logic to dominate human social life. This notion is developed throughout "Dialectic of Enlightenment."
According to Adorno and Horkheimer, the culture industry is a main phenomenon of late capitalism, encompassing all products and forms of light entertainment - from Hollywood films to elevator music. These forms of popular culture are designed to fulfill the growing demands of mass capitalist consumers for entertainment. Adorno specifically notes that the term "culture industry" was chosen over "mass culture" to prevent it from being understood as something that spontaneously arises from the masses themselves.
Products of the culture industry appear as artwork but are, in fact, dependent on industry and economy. This means they are subject to the interests of money and power. All products of the culture industry are designed for profit. According to Adorno and Horkheimer, this implies that every work of art is transformed into a consumer product and is shaped by the logic of capitalist rationality (i.e., whatever sells best). Art is no longer autonomous; it becomes a commodified product of the economic relations of production.
The main argument of "Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception" is that the commodification of culture equates to the commodification of human consciousness. Adorno and Horkheimer assert that the culture industry eradicates autonomous thinking and criticism, serving to preserve the prevailing order. It provides easy entertainment, which distracts the masses from the wrongs and sickness of the ruling order. They argue that the culture industry has usurped reality as the prism through which people experience life, thoroughly shaping and conditioning their life experiences. Additionally, the culture industry keeps workers occupied, as expressed by the famous quote from "Dialectic of Enlightenment": "Amusement has become an extension of labor under late capitalism." Popular culture appears to offer a refuge and diversion from work, but it actually causes the worker to further immerse themselves in a world of products and consumerism. The only freedom the culture industry truly offers is freedom from thinking.
Adorno and Horkheimer argue that the culture industry manipulates the masses (instead of merely satisfying their wants and needs), turning people into passive and subordinated subjects. This incapacitates them from taking full critical responsibility for their actions, which is crucial for a functioning democracy. People, therefore, willingly contribute to the maintenance of the system by participating in it.
In "Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception," Adorno and Horkheimer emphasize that the culture industry employs a production-line mentality when producing cultural products. While it may seem that all films and TV shows we watch are different, they actually follow the same recycled formulas present in other types of consumer goods. It may feel like "there is something for everyone," but it's all variations of the same thing. This is a key feature of the culture industry, as the fact that all products are produced under the same scheme allows them to be "readable" and effortlessly digested. This is how the culture industry enforces conformity - with things that only appear different but are, in fact, variations of the same thing. The final argument posed by Adorno and Horkheimer is that people under capitalism suffer the same fate as art under the culture industry - they are reduced to their exchange value, devoid of any intrinsic or unique traits as envisioned by the Enlightenment.
See also:
- Summary of Dialectic of Enlightenment by chapter
- Theodor Adorno - culture industry reconsideredOne Dimensional man / Herbert Marcuse
- Adorno's Relationship with TechnologyAdorno's Negative Dialectics ExplainedAdorno's Theory of Aesthetics Explained
- Top Books by Theodor Adorno - A Reading List