Theodor W. Adorno's The Culture Industry: Enlightenment As Mass Deception?

In “The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception, ” authors Max Horkheimer and Theodor W. Adorno argue that the definition of mass culture as something that is determined by the majority of a population is false. They believe that the characteristics that define the mass culture of society is, in reality, determined by those who work in the mass production of media. In their essay, the authors express that culture has turned in to an industry, in which the motivation to circulate media among the population is to make money. Mass culture is the concept of a population giving rise to a uniform set of intellectual and artistic values and practices, used by capitalist societies because this it allows for media producers to manufacture media that conforms to mass culture and to create different levels of culture within the masses of society, all to increase sales and profits for the culture industry. In the concept of mass culture, the “masses” who form the majority of a population also are the consumers who spend money for circulated art and media, and help

Adorno disagree. They believe that mass culture is something produced by the culture industry, that creates uniformity in all art and media circulated in society, and helps these producers justify differences in monetary value of specific products, services, and media through the creation of high culture and low culture. Today, internet platforms such as Youtube, Twitter, and Facebook, are attempting to put mass culture back in the hands of the public, by giving independent creators of media to publish content without monetary consequences. These efforts may help lessen the power of the culture industry in defining the characteristics of mass culture, and make authors like Horkheimer and Adorno less cynical about the quality of culture in the current