A Review and Critique of the Culture Industry in Frankfurt School

The critical theory of the Frankfurt school is the product of those German neo-Marxists who criticize the economic determinism of Marxist theory and its one-dimensional emphasis on economic factors. Instead of economic factors, their discussions were mainly focused on the cultural level. And its theorists to believe that in the modern world, the origin of the domination has moved from the economy into the realm of culture. The term of ‘Culture industry’ has been named by Adorno and Horkheimer. In which a standard culture of top-down production and through the media, such as consumer goods, to be given to the masses and with the unification of the masses and generate false needs, serves the dominant hegemony. Adorno's solution is turning to pure art that causes failure to follow similar patterns and thus boost the creative mind and true individuality and rationality. The research methodology adopted in the present study is analyticaldescriptive method. The paper attempts to review the issue of cultural industry in the Frankfurt School with an emphasis on theories of Horkheimer and Adorno. Finally, this theory will be criticized from various aspects. Keywords: Culture industry, Mass culture, Media and Publicity, Control and Surveillance, Formal rationality, Awareness and Freedom of Activists.