The theory of the culture industry discusses how the capitalist society in which we live today is dedicated to creating standardised products in order for people to consume in one way or another. Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer explain how the culture industry is directly associated with capitalism and that in this way practically all industries are designed to generate mass consumption since all major industries today, such as the media , agriculture, construction, etc. offer either products or services which is a constant cycle of expenses and consumption by society. This way, through the consumption of these services and products, society not only becomes accustomed to depending and generating a consumerist habit, but also generation after generation this habit will increase as a result of this previously mentioned cycle. Media like television encourage you to consume in various ways, these being not only the obvious ones such as buying a television or paying for certain private channels or platforms that allow you to see exclusive content but also within this content that they offer since in general They usually expose fictitious economic situations above the average of the current economic capabilities of the vast majority of people, which is one more incentive for all consumers in this industry to feel directly or indirectly “obliged” to obtain a level of life like the one that can be seen in most series and movies that are seen on television and in the cinema.
This term of cultural industry is a very good description and representation of what society is like today, since practically our daily life moves around this theory as we all contribute to a greater or lesser extent to this effect, whether by generating or consuming any of the things mentioned previously since many of these wants have become essential for a large percentage of the world’s population. All this without mentioning that as technology and media have evolved and advanced this has meant a massive increase in this “industrial culture” since not only have all the industries that have been there for decades developed much more but also In addition, these technological advances have generated many more new industries in constant development that enlarge this loop in which we live of consuming as a necessity despite the fact that the vast majority of things are only extra, non-necessary comforts.
Overall, the cultural industry is a loop from which as a society we will not be able to escape since we have lost the ability to differentiate what is a need and what is a want and we have become some kind of farm dedicated to generating and consuming compulsively and without any type of control or criteria. Adorno and Horkheimer concluded a very precise theory about how we functioned as a society in terms of consuming and being a completely different era in which surely there would not be even half of the industries that have been created thanks to the technological advances of recent years and yet It is a theory that changes absolutely nothing and demonstrates very well how we function.
Bibliography:
Adorno, T. and Horkheimer, M. (2002). The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception. [online] Available at: https://sites.evergreen.edu/arunchandra/wp-content/uploads/sites/395/2018/07/hork.pdf.
Cultural Reader (2017). Culture Industry explained simply (Adorno and Horkheimer). [online] Blogspot.com. Available at: https://culturalstudiesnow.blogspot.com/2017/10/culture-industry-explained-simply.html.
filadd.com. (n.d.). Resumen: INDUSTRIA CULTURAL | Teorías y Prácticas de la Comunicación I | Licenciatura en Ciencias de la Comunicación | | Filadd. [online] Available at: https://filadd.com/doc/industria-cultural-doc-teorias-y-practicas-de-la [Accessed 23 Oct. 2023].
