Philosophical Analysis of Adorno’s Criticisms of the Function of the Popular Music, Concerning Life Cycle of the Masses Under the Culture Industry in Late-Capitalism

Abstract

This paper aims to explore, simplify, and analyze Theodore W. Adorno’s criticisms and discussions of the function of music. Since Adorno’s criticisms were in a holistic passage of a dialectical play and only what is not can be made to emerge, this paper commences with the question of whether a fragment can be retrieved from the whole. The result of this exploration found that the detail of what is from the dialectical passage can be retrieved and simplified, but an isolated fragment needs the complementary parts to grasp a fuller understanding. Thus, the paper needs to explore from his critic stance which posits between what exists and what is not yet exist, the main theme of late capitalism and culture industry, and the fundamental components of art i.e., form, content (Inhalt), and Import (Gehalt) or substance—a crucial part for understanding the function. These are significant parts the explore to grasp the fuller understanding of Adorno’s criticisms and discussions of the function of music. According to the analysis of this paper that is corresponding to Adorno, what appears to function as the culture industry is the entertainment industry, and the ultimate result is that both the mind and body of the masses are under the control of the greater organization, while the culture industry has a crucial function that affects the mind specifically.