Chapter 29 The Culture of Industry

This chapter by Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno is basically analyzing how capitalism has cultural industries. First they mention how urban living is a symbol of international production. They described the way the center of the city is usually the most prosperous and the outskirts look like slums in an essence cities crystallize as a model of our culture.

Then they covered communication, the difference between radio and telephone. At the time he wrote this in 1944 radio was used more for mass media then music. They talked about how the radio is a better indication of our culture because it is used for advertising and entertainment. What is on the radio personified what Americans at the time were interested in hearing but he warns not to believe everything your hear on the radio.

Then they mentioned the movies and how they capture reality but are low on the detail of the world. He goes on to describe the physiological effects of how little thought you need to understand a movie and I believe he is hinting to the films hidden advertisements.

They even mention how our impulses are sold on the mass market. Such as sexual material and this was written in 1944 when censorship was very heavy so I can’t image how sexual material was sold back then.

Overall the two mention how ideologies are marketed in so many ways and they also referred to only one ideology being promoted and therefore accepted by the public. This makes me believe the point of this article was to warn the consumer that there our other ideologies and the culture of capitalism is not always true.