Theodor Adorno (1903-69) was a Marxist, who attend The Frankfurt School, which was based in Germany in the mid 20th century. They were concerned that popular writings of the time and the role of popular culture in society was exploiting the masses and keeping the bourgeoisie in power. Adorno agrued that capitalism 'fed' people products in order to keep them 'passively satisfied' and 'politcally apathetic' to maintain the bourgoisie in power over them.
Adorno suggested that:
- culture industries churn out masses of unspohisticated, sentimental products which have replaced more critical art forms
- this may also lead people to actually question social life
- people have false needs cultivated in them by the captialist system
- the capitalist system replaces peoples 'true needs' such as:
- full expression of humanity's potential as well as humanity's creativity
- genuine creative happiness
- These features are popular within the music industry - products sold to an audience who believe they are consuming 'true' art by listening
- that popular music products went through standardisation and they were generally the same
- they also went through psuedo-individualisation - small differences to make them seem different and distinctive but in reality they are not
- products of the industry may be emotional and moving but Adorno sees that as a purgative act - getting rid of emotions to then feel restored again
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