Culture Industry

Culture Industry

A concept introduced by Max Horkheimer and Theodor W. Adorno in the book Dialectic of Enlightenment (1944). It refers to the process of mass production of standardised cultural goods such as films, records, radio and televisions programs which, as a consequence, leads people and society into so-called “intellectual passivity”. High arts on the contrary, by preserving the prerequisites of creativity and freedom of expression as their raison d’etre, represent the antithesis to the Culture Industry.