Culture In The Frankfurt School Conclusion Theory

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In straight forward terms, the Frankfurt School conclusion theory was it is the mass availability of what are deemed to be “culture objects” that “directly influence society and subordinate them to a capitalist system” (Gardner, 2009). The school explains that all cultural production highly relies on economic function and that the means of production is pivotal in determining cultural superstructures. Through their study of culture industry, they became to believe strongly in the idea of a “inescapable capitalism control structure” (Gardner,2009). They explained that differentiation is important in the “classification, organization, and identification of consumers” (Gardner, 2009). It is also said that culture provides a medium where “something …show more content…

Essentially, the main contradiction between the theories offered up by the two schools was that a “more complex relationship between producers and consumers of culture that is drawn into linguistic structures” (Gardner, 2009) existed according to the Frankfurt school. This complex relationship allows for a change to develop through the various meanings of codes that empower the person or “decoder to operate from a position of negotiated resistance or opposition” (HAVE TO FIND). Through the use of a linguistic structure point of view, we can see where cultural ideologies are developed or forced into the realm of socially constructed discussion, while working from a position of dominance and authority. The expression of ideas and feelings is directly connected to the creation of cultural values through the essential medium of language. Language is considered a representational system due to its use in referencing actual objects and events, along with non-physical entities such as our imagination (complex ideas) and …show more content…

Initially, it was suggested by Adorno that culture was a byproduct of commodities. Over time, this idea was challenged by Hall and others, who described culture as something which is both a complex and dynamic socially constructed system involving the use of codes and signifiers. Culture is not simply defined by the materialistic “things” that society consume, but by the expression of value or significance towards ideas and objects. Culture is not something that is simply that is thrust upon us, but something that we choose to identify with and partake in. It is defined as a “way of life...undertaken by a particular group of people at a particular time”(Reference cambridge). For example, it is not the production of tv shows that creates a culture, it is the investment of the audience who familiarise and identify with the show that is seen as culture. It is not the availability of certain products, i.e. Apple iPhones, that creates a culture, it is the joining of a vast group of people who enjoy similar interests, emotions or thoughts about same product or idea that creates a culture. Culture provides an avenue for people to express a shared meaning within society. It is through culture that social norms and order within society can be

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