10 - Philosophy of culture

Summary

Introduction

Many of Adorno's best-known writings on culture were produced during his sojourn in England (1934–38) and the United States (1938–47). Dark times and exile – the shadow of the Holocaust – are constant companions in these texts: their presence, unmistakable, imparts to his writing the urgent tone of a “wake-up” call.

Culture is ubiquitous: it mediates all consciousness, all mental life. We are never out of culture; for the most part we take it for granted, much as a fish takes water. Intellectual culture – philosophy, art, science and literature – is only one aspect of culture. More immediate are the everyday cultures of the workplace, of organizations, of public service, education, democratic politics and formal administration; the culture of intimacy, of family life and interpersonal relations; newspapers, magazines, and all the varieties of leisure culture – mass entertainment, radio, television, film, records, music and theatre.

Most people do not think of everyday culture – the culture of business life or of pop music – as toxic, even less as belonging to the same mind-set that led to the worst horrors of the twentieth century. The apocalyptic tone of Adorno's philosophy of culture is directed to persuading his readers of the pathology of modern culture and of the fate he believes awaits those who do not resist the cultural hegemony of a late capitalist society, who allow themselves to be assimilated, to become “apologists” for a barbarous world.