The Culture Industry Revisited: Theodor W. Adorno on Mass CultureAs the culture wars continue to dominate newspaper headlines and conference panels, much of the debate revolves around the value of and values in popular culture. Many opponents of popular culture have cited Theodor W. Adorno, one of the leading figures of the Frankfurt School of critical theorists. Adorno is understood to have viewed mass culture as completely commodified-that is, produced only to be sold on the market and without aesthetic value. In this compelling book, Deborah Cook critically examines this view and argues persuasively that even Adorno's "pessimistic" theory leaves room for resistance to the culture industry. Beginning with an exploration of the theoretical background for Adorno's work, Cook then examines Adorno's conception and criticism of mass culture and its consumption, and his views about art and its relation to mass culture. The first book-length treatment in English of Adorno's work on popular culture, The Culture Industry Revisited provides new readers of Adorno with an understanding of his theory and an overview of his more important critics. Those more familiar with Adorno will find important discussion of some of the more controversial ideas in his work. The book will be of interest to scholars and upper-level students of philosophy, sociology, literature, communications, and cultural studies. |
Contents
Prologue | ix |
The Sundered Totality Adornos FreudoMarxist Paradigm | 1 |
Toward a Political Economy of the Culture Industry | 27 |
Psyche under Siege The Psychology of Domination and Resistance | 51 |
Affirmative Culture and Enlightened Critique | 77 |
Reassessing the Culture Industry | 103 |
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Adorno and Horkheimer Adorno believed Adorno wrote Adorno's Aesthetic Theory Adorno's analysis Adorno's theory advertising artistic Authoritarian Personality become bourgeois Capital from Culture concept consciousness consumers Critical Theory cultural commodities cultural production culture industry Dialectic of Enlightenment domination economic essay exchange principle exchange-value Fernsehen film Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt School freedom Freud function Garnham German Critique Habermas Hereafter cited high modern high modern art historical Honneth ideal ideas Idem ideology critique individuals instincts Lasch late capitalism late capitalist societies liberal ideology London Martin Jay Marx Marx's Mass Culture Max Horkheimer Minima Moralia narcissism nazism needs Negative Dialectics norms object philosophy Political Economy popular music positivist ideology psychology Public Sphere rational reality regressive reification reinforcement resistance Ryan schemata social Sociology Soziologische Schriften speculative standardized stereotypes Suhrkamp Verlag superego techniques television Telos Theodor Theodor W theorists tion translated ture University Press use-value utopian values York Zuidervaart