Culture Industry By Emmanuel Davis "Culture now impresses the same stamp on everything," according to Adorno and Horkheimer. Discuss the context in which these Frankfurt School scholars coined the term 'Culture Industry' and how they used the concept to critique mass culture. Your essay should include your own analysis of a media text that has not been discussed in detail in the lectures or required readings. Mainstream media has devalued individualism and creativity as it can "no longer pretend to be art". (Adorno & Horkheimer 1944, p. 32). Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer were two German born sociologists who coined the phrase "culture industry" in their 1944 book Dialectic of Enlightenment, to critique the capitalist media industry. They lived in Germany during the Nazi rise to power and in America during the rise of Hollywood and mass media. Experiencing firsthand the cultural effects of mass media on society. This essay will thus explore if mainstream culture truly manipulates and influences societies ideals and values through the convergence of media and monopolised industries. The monopolisation of the media industry has ultimately led to a Mélange of uniformed media. (Adorno & Horkheimer 1944). The Frankfurt scholars impressed upon the idea that "under monopoly all mass culture is identical". (Adorno & Horkheimer 1944, P. 32). Their philosophies highlight the endangerment of creativity and individualism within the media, eluding to the fact that such concepts were no longer present with in Western, and particularly capitalist cultures. Their beliefs further criticize the values of popular mass media implying that the culture industry merely echoes what is already within the industry as "Culture now impresses the same stamp on everything". (Adorno & Horkheimer 1944, p. 32). Adorno and Horkheimer argue that the culture industry relies on uniformity and repetition. "Every detail is so firmly stamped with sameness", (Adorno & Horkheimer 1944, p. 36). This critical perspective on uniformity disregards repetition in the media industry as valued, suggesting that Western popular culture is dependent on monopolisation. Following this Dwight Macdonald, an American philosopher further expands on this idea of mass culture being weaponised by capitalism. "Mass Culture breaks down the wall, integrating the masses into a debased form of High Culture and thus becoming an instrument of political domination." (Macdonald 1953, p. 3). Macdonald critiques mass culture and specifically America's media industries as a weapon used for political gain. "The nature of Mass Culture would reveal capitalism to be an exploitative class society and not the harmonious commonwealth it is sometimes alleged to be". (Macdonald 1953, p. 3). Noting the ever- growing nature of the media industry Macdonald sees the culture industry as a threat to high culture, folk art and the masses. "It threatens High Culture by its sheer pervasiveness, its brutal, overwhelming quantity", (Macdonald 1953, p. 4). He views media as an overwhelming force that despite its uniformity can become popularised universally, owing this to its monotonous nature. It can be assumed that Adorno and Horkheimer's past experiences hold a fundamental impact on their philosophies