The Culture Industry - Morgan, Peter, JS and Nick

This segment of The Culture Industry by Max Horkheimer and Theodor W. Adorno circumscribes the idea that manipulation of the masses happens through the production of standardized cultural artifacts (or mass media) . They mention how capitalism is used to mold the masses in creating false needs, and more importantly the feeling of satisfaction that follows them. The industry has control over what these 'needs' are and the proposed solutions for satisfying them are specifically designed and optimized for specific and labeled types of people (the 'deceived masses' , p.80). This culture system creates the illusion of tolerance and acceptance towards all people, but really dictates what one should be consuming, and subtly excludes people who don't fit in the mold.

Because the capitalism-based system creates a massive spell that shuts down all 'undesired' entities, it is interesting to notice than even a published book criticizing the role of the industries in relation to the creation of mass culture has been 'filtered' and accommodated to the economic rules, so that it can be distributed and sold. That 'adaptation' is done without contestation because we know that this is what is needed for a manuscript to become a sellable book. So why isn't it the same thing with mass media, why don't we all agree the (mass) media are never going to be in their purest form (untouched) , as their always going to be adapted by distributors in orders to squeeze as much juice as possible out of them, and as much money as possible out of us. This is probably the price to pay to be able to massively distribute media in a capitalist society. In the end, the consumption of such culture allows the masses to feel content but also never entirely satisfy the real needs which is why people keep coming back for more.

"The deception is not that the culture industry supplies amusement but that it ruins the fun by allowing business considerations to involve it in the ideological clichés of a culture in the process of self-liquidation." (p. 85) How, if possible, can we retrieve our agency in a system of deception that has dominated and permeated our society and culture?