How Capitalism has shaped Cultures in ways that are worse for the citizens but profitable for the elite.
So what is the culture industry?
the “Cultural industry refers to industries involved in creating, producing, and commercializing creative content, whether in the form of goods or services.” this system called ‘capitalism’ is the reason why this exists, and even back in the 1940s when 2 Jewish people fleeing to America, already could tell how bad it had gotten and that’s only footnote to how bad we have it now.
These 2 people are named Adorno and Horkheimer and published their book “Dialectic of Enlightenment“
The Death of worthwhile and the birth of soulless production:
Now what does this mean, due to how capitalism works, unlike what an artisan can give you and can tell you about a culture, their people, their traditions, their soul into each and every product they made; Mass production has made it so there is no place for actual creativity other than gaining more and more profit leading to everything having that same blandness because anything new or innovative outside of pure necessity would be risky.
I mean look at movies nowadays, Reboots, Sequels, Cross-overs, Spin-offs.
None of these movies are new concepts or Ideas, just the same IPs by the same companies, media just repeats itself over and over again, and anything new normally gets stomped out as well making it a self-fulfilling cycle with shows like The Owl House, Inside Job, Infinity Train and more getting canceled after just a season or two.
The Culture Industry also is a dictator over Taste and Opinion as the people who control the Culture Industry have the means of using it to stop anything that isn’t the status quo and whatever it may change in the future.
But why do this, why ruin so much that makes society human?
There is always a base-line for the Culture industry in that its sole purpose is to:
- Mass Market
- Mass Produce
- Products purely for profit
- Not Caring for culture, people, or anyone else.
The products in this system are not created for the purpose of artistic or intellectual merit but for the least risky adventure for making more money.
Even more the Culture Industry keeps us complacent and stops us from revolution and how we are dominated by capitalism and pop culture.
Where the active producer of pro-capitalist influence and you are the active consumer, not using art as a way of challenging yourself, your views, or society but using it as a way to slowly and slowly influence you and make you even more and more passive
Labor and how it affects us as humanity:
Labor is what makes us human, having pride in our creations, what we do in a day, and having choices over our own destiny, but since your labor is now owned you have to spend your freedom in your leisure time since your leisure is not creating but just consuming and so “What is animal becomes human, what is human becomes animal”
And so you’re stuck in a cycle of never doing anything, never creating anything you are proud of, and spending all your time consuming instead of fighting for a better future. Now I want to end this on a high note: It does not have to be this way.
References:
Dialectic of Enlightenment – Theodor W. Adorno and Max Horkheimer
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialectic_of_Enlightenment
Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844 – Karl Marx
