Adorno’s ideal of the subjective interviewer was betrayed by hired market-research pollsters.

Evidence

With an unmistakably Adornoesque idea, it was stated that `The interviewer’s full subjective capacity to react is here made into a “research tool” best adapted to the object, which is imponderable in its dynamics and complexity.’ It was a poor match for this when the interviewingthe actual fieldworkwas carried out by fifteen experienced interviewers from the German Institute of Opinion Research (Deutsches Institut für Volksumfragen or DIVO) who only added at the end of the questionnaire sheet their general impressions on the degree of co-operation shown by the person being questioned, on the quality of the contact, the person’s sincerity, how attached he was to the factory, and how much trade union activity he engaged in. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 2099

Categorization

• DEFINE: The Adornoesque ‘full subjective capacity to react’ as research tool is a key Frankfurt School methodological concept in contrast to standardized survey technique.
• XREF: Connects to the Adorno/Pollock debates over empirical vs theoretical research that structure the Institute’s whole history.