The Culture Industry (Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer)

The Culture Industry is a concept developed by Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer in the 1940s, describing how popular culture is mass-produced and commercialized. They argued that films, music, and other media serve capitalist interests by promoting conformity and consumerism rather than individual creativity. This industry limits genuine artistic expression by prioritizing profit over substance, leading to homogenized cultural products that manipulate public consciousness. Essentially, they believed that mass culture transforms art into a commodity, shaping people's tastes and thoughts in ways that maintain social control and discourage critical thinking.