In short nobody likes ‘copycats’ or the idea of not being unoriginal, but in reality, we are all carbon copies of each other and these are the key points researched and explained by Theodor Adorno and Mark Horkhimer.
In 1923 the institute for social research was created in Germany and the Frankfurt school was born. The school was designed to look at the sociological understandings of modern capitalism and how the mass society was affected. In Adorno and Horkimer’s book ‘Dialectic of enlightenment’ the main theme explored through the text is the effect of the culture industry.
Adorno clearly explains how the mass society is affected due to the rise of the culture industry and has therefore lead to cultural chaos. He believed that people could spend their spare time learning and educating themselves and therefore expand their minds. But instead people were choosing to give into the pressures of the entertainment industry, such as films, radio, theatre and music. This links to the critical theory and shows that under a monopoly, all modern mass culture has become identical.
A good example of this was shown in a recent lecture by Dr. Heidi Herzogenrath-Amelung. The ‘Axis of Awesome’ group show that a variety of popular songs can be played with the same four cords. And illustrates Adorno’s theory.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOlDewpCfZQ
Adorno tells us ‘for culture now impresses the same stamp on everything’. This is reflected in an iron system as people bought into the ideology of a normal reality, without even questioning originality and living life in a metaphorical uniform.
This theory is still relatable to our society due to social media. The online world brings its own pressures and people can feel obliged to try and fit in as, that is how our modern society naturally runs. People let the internet take over their real-life reality and is a distraction.
Not only does Adorno argue that the cultural industry has affected modern capitalism, he also explains how the industry sold us goods we didn’t effectively need and this was due to advertising.
This theory is true and can be reflected in modern day life. Examples include adverts you consume on digital devices. Take this car advert, it has a duration of over two minutes and doesn’t even mention the actual car until the end of the advert.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ey2SL5kOtnM
The key purpose is to try and sell the consumer a lifestyle and ideology, that gets to the heart of what they want. In this case, the advert is trying to sell us freedom and paints a picture in the mind’s eye of a healthier lifestyle. Therefore, if people wanted freedom, they would easily be persuaded to buy this car. Therefore, proving that Adorno and Horkheimer’s theories do make sense and can be reflected in modern capitalism at any point.
Sourced used:
Very interesting approach. I agree that we would rather get distracted by Internet and put ourselves in “safe” situations. Real life can be scary sometimes. People got too used to avoid their problems rather than face them. It is interesting how even after many decades, some things don’t change. Yet, I do think entertainment has its perks (I do love watching a good series). By the way, that was a really good advert. I like how you explained the fact that they are trying to sell a feeling. Now I want that car and I can’t even drive. Very good post, Holly. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi ! I really enjoyed reading your post, you made everything very clear and easy to understand. Love the choices of examples too. And I totally agree with your statement on how “The online world brings its own pressures and people can feel obliged to try and fit in as”. Sometimes it can be hard to draw the line between what is online and what really happens in reality. I feel like everything is so interconnected that we sometimes just get lost in the sauce..
LikeLiked by 1 person
Really loved reading this! I found it particularly easy to relate to as Advertising is my field of study.
I firstly got into this field because I actually found advertisements amazing and very annoying at the same time ( who else hates the 30 sec ads you are forced to watch before a Youtube video?).
On the other hand though find this phenomenon fascinating, I was lucky enough to travel a lot during the past years. Traveling so much I had the possibility to see lots of cities, airports and shops all over the world and a world full of advertisement, now more than ever. One of the things that I noticed is the extent to which ads, particularly certain ones, can capture your attention and trigger your imagination with few words or images regardless of where you are and language barriers. Although with the economic crisis an increasing number of families all over the world are striving to make ends meet, the push to sell – and to buy – consumer goods has hardly stopped. What does this tells us about our society and where we are heading? What role does advertising and the media more generally play into this? And can advertising be more socially responsible rather than being driven only by the market?
If we accept that the media and advertising are centrepiece and try to understand how they work, we may be able to interpret our society better and make more informed decisions.
LikeLike