Definition of Cultural Industry

The project of both philosophers belonging to the frankfurt school, was crossed by a strong critique of philosophical modernity, in the context of a deepening of capitalist development. The notion of the cultural industry, in this sense, refers to the way in which culture, under said economic system, becomes an industry governed by the same laws as the production of goods oriented to mass consumption.

In turn, the critique of culture within the framework of

capitalism advanced is also crossed by the experience of the ascent of the Nazism and the emergency of European totalitarianism: the totalitarian tendencies, which had set in motion the systematic extermination of human beings, accounted for the failure of the Enlightenment project. In this way, what the West had presented as the culture of the highest civilization, as opposed to barbarism, was, in truth, barbaric.

Assuming an industrial character, cultural production —musical, editorial and cinematographic— is articulated under large agencies or monopolies that, in turn, are associated with other large companies, forming a large machinery economic. The economic benefit is what ultimately determines the orientation of mass culture. As a result, cultural goods are no longer products of an artistic nature, but merely merchandise. In this sense, they are completely contradictory with respect to the social function of art, marked by its autonomy.

The Role of Culture in Industrial Societies

By becoming tradable products on the market, cultural assets are radically transformed in their essence. That is why, given the way in which they submit to the logic of the market, their effective mercantile exchange is no longer necessary; but, even if its access is free —as, for example, in the case of radio broadcasting of music—, its distribution is subject to financing granted by advertising apparatus. In other words, if those products can be distributed for free, it is because they are financed by advertising, which is at the base of all industrial activities. In this way, what is sold is not necessarily the cultural product, however, it is subject to the commercial logic that makes its mass consumption possible through the advertising apparatus.

On the other hand, by losing the autonomous character of art in its translation as a cultural industry, its social function is also modified, so that culture becomes a reverse of work mechanized. That is to say, the sphere of leisure, under the terms of the cultural industry, has the function of indoctrinating the masses through enjoyment, but not their emancipation. Cultural products, governed by industrial technology made possible by monopolies, such as consumer goods, become alienating objects, functional to the logics of the sphere of worked; since its aesthetic potential and its entertainment capacity are used for the reproduction mass of capitalist ideology.

As a result of industrialization of culture, cultural goods are standardized according to the criteria of the marketing, keeping a diversity only apparent, whose objective is to satisfy different groups of consumers. The production of such goods is carried out in series, based on a standard model that is massively replicated mechanically, in such a way that, even when there seems to be a wide diversity in the market, what underlies it is the reproduction of the same Format aimed at each type of consumer, according to their different interests.

Then, the possibility of choosing between different options is, for the authors, an illusion that offers the viewer a greater degree of satisfaction and, thus, keeps him subject to the very logic of consumption.

Bibliography

Linares, Y. b. (2010). The Frankfurt school and the concept of cultural industry. Reading tools and keys. Venezuelan Journal of Economics and Social Sciences, 16(3), 55-71.