Adorno assumed a hidden structural principle governing all advanced industrial societies.

Evidence

When Adorno referred, in every possible context, to the domination of the general over the specific, of the reified over life, and of the abstract over the qualitative, did this not indicate a hidden assumption that a mysterious structural principle existed that characterized every possible level of advanced industrial societyalthough he never made it clear how this structural principle operated, or from where? — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 2315

Categorization

• QUESTION: This poses an open interpretive question about Adorno’s unstated metaphilosophical commitment — worth chasing if doing close work on Adorno’s categorial framework.
• XREF: connects to: Adorno extends Marx by linking systemic antagonisms to every individual’s consciousness — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 1389; Adorno’s critique targets economy-in-general as universal rationality, not just capitalism — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 1605; Horkheimer and Adorno located capitalism’s core in the exchange principle — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination: A History…, 1635

Broader Connections

• Adorno extends Marx by linking systemic antagonisms to every individual’s consciousness #expands (0.82) — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 1389
• Horkheimer and Adorno located capitalism’s core in the exchange principle #exemplifies (0.80) — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 1635
• Adorno’s critique targets economy-in-general as universal rationality, not just capitalism #qualifies (0.75) — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 1605