The Culture Industry...Selling Culture

Authors Theodore Adorno and Max Horkheimer present a strong opposition to the current American (capitalist) society in their book The Culture Industry. In the chapter Enlightenment as Mass Deception, it tells us of how Adorno and Horkheimer believe that our capitalistic society is really undermining the people who become part of it's trend. They say that modern music and art, are just repeated “cookie cutter” images and sounds to please the tasteless public. They use examples of artists like Schoonberg (composer) and Picasso (painter) to represent their interpretation of true music and art; as artists like these broke social norms of the time in order to produce new material.
Adorno and Horkheimer argue that the perception of the consumer changes, after exposure to the high volume of advertising our society offers. They now need to consume popular goods in order to blend in with the rest of society. However this isn’t the case for everyone, Adorno and Horkheimer recognized that some consumers aren’t fooled by brand name and fancy labels. Their position countering capitalism is simple; it requires you to separate yourself from any influence or product of the capitalistic society.
In comparison, Ohman’s text initialed Selling Culture you can draw several similarities and differences between the two arguments. First, both articles recognize that capitalism has many flaws, and that the basis of capitalism is making the most money possible, while spending as little as possible. In the text they talk about the affects advertising had on the piano industry in the early 1900’s. Due to advertising, the number of pianos in use had risen six times as fast as the growth of the population, in the year 1910. It seems to me that Ohman’s arguments reflects both positively and negatively upon capitalism, but overall he can see a use for it. Ware as in The Culture Industry, Adorno and Horkheimer refuse anything that capitalism has to offer.

foundation

name: Tom Valko

age: 22

residence: Detroit,MI

This is my fourth year at Wayne State, i am studying film production.  I live downtown, and i work as a bike messenger for "Rockdove Bike Curriers LLC".  I ride year round for work, and to commute from school, grocery store, parties ect.  In my time away from school and work, i like to go see music (rock, or electronic mostly), travel, and work on video projects. 

Quick Facts:

I used to be a vegetarian, but I'm not anymore.

I used to smoke cigarettes, but now i don't

I used to hate coffee, but now i love it. 

Thats about it.