Frankfurt School - Critical Theory

Summary

The Frankfurt School, established in 1929, migrated to the US during Hitler's rise. Post-WWII, it influenced radical youth movements. Focusing on critical investigation with Freudian, Marxist, and Hegelian roots, they analyzed societal issues like bureaucratization, culture industry, and crises leading to authoritarianism. Their methodology included historical analysis, totality, ideology critique, supra-disciplinarity, everyday life critique, and liberating reason.

Takeaways

• 🏫 The Frankfurt School was established in 1929 in Frankfurt, Germany, and later relocated to Switzerland and the USA due to political pressures.
• 🌏 It was associated with Columbia University in New York City and influenced social movements in the USA during the 1960s.
• 🤔 The School's critical approach was based on Freudian, Marxist, and Hegelian philosophies to address the social issues of the 20th century.
• 📚 They focused on understanding why capitalist progress led to regressive ideologies and repressive power structures like authoritarianism.
• 🏢 The concept of 'bureaucratization of society' was central, including the Marxist theory of commodity fetishism and Weber's ideas on political and economic institutions.
• 📺 The Frankfurt School introduced the term 'culture industry' to describe the mass production and distribution of cultural goods that influence public opinion.
• 🔍 They emphasized the importance of historical analysis, viewing human subjects as agents of history shaped by, yet capable of transforming, their circumstances.
• 🌐 The School advocated for a totality approach to analysis, considering phenomena as part of a larger systemic context.
• 🧠 Ideology was seen as systemic and structural, not just individual error, and was a target for critique to reveal its naturalized yet artificial nature.
• 🔄 They promoted supra-disciplinarity, encouraging philosophy and social sciences to work together to overcome divisions and provide a holistic understanding of society.
• 🌟 The Frankfurt School believed in liberating reason from oppressive conditions, viewing it as a tool that had become tyrannical in its categorization of human experience.

Q & A

What is the Frankfurt School known for?

The Frankfurt School is known for its critical investigation approach that is open-minded and self-critical, based on Freudian, Marxist, and Hegelian premises of idealist philosophy.

When and where was the Frankfurt School founded?

The Frankfurt School was founded in 1929 in Frankfurt, Germany.

Why did the Frankfurt School migrate to Switzerland and then to the United States?

After Hitler's rise to power in 1933, the school migrated to Geneva, Switzerland, and then to New York City in 1935 due to political persecution.

Which university was the Frankfurt School affiliated with in the United States?

In the United States, the Frankfurt School was affiliated with Columbia University.

What were the key issues the Frankfurt School sought to address?

The Frankfurt School sought to address why the progress of capitalism and modernity led not to liberation but to regressive ideologies and repressive forms of power.

What are some of the Frankfurt School's theories on the bureaucratization of society?

The Frankfurt School's theories on bureaucratization include Marxist theory of commodity fetishism, Lukacs' reification, and Max Weber's bureaucratization of political and economic institutions.

How does the Frankfurt School view the role of the culture industry?

The Frankfurt School, particularly Theodore Adorno and Max Horkheimer, view the culture industry as a system similar to factories that governs the production and distribution of cultural goods and services, often serving class and state interests.

What is the significance of the mass media and the internet according to the Frankfurt School?

The Frankfurt School sees mass media and the internet as structures of production that contribute to the obedience of the proletariat and sympathize with pro-capitalist or fascist ideologies.

What are the six main points of the methodological program of the Frankfurt School?

The six main points are historical analysis, totality, ideology, supra-disciplinarity, critique of everyday life, and reason.

How does the Frankfurt School define 'historical analysis'?

Historical analysis in the Frankfurt School's context considers human subjects as agents of history whose beliefs and actions are dependent on historical circumstances.

What does 'totality' mean in the context of the Frankfurt School?

Totality refers to the analysis of phenomena not in isolation but as part of a larger system, even if that system is unstable.

How does the Frankfurt School approach the critique of everyday life?

The critique of everyday life involves understanding how ideology acts through observation, public participation, and interviews of ordinary practices of the masses.