Adorno held that class-consciousness diminishes despite persistent class antagonism.

Evidence

Contrary to Marx’s prognosis, and to the situation in the middle of the last century, class-consciousness is tending to diminish. This diminution is caused by phenomena which are described as integrative by the predominant academic sociology, and their existence cannot be denied simply because they conflict with sacrosanct beliefs. — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 1402

Categorization

• XREF: Directly counters the ‘pessimistic cul-de-sac’ reading — Adorno is here engaging social-science findings empirically, not retreating. Echoes the book’s stated revisionist ambition. — connects to: Adorno kept class struggle but demoted it from analytical focus — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination: A History…, 1743; Adorno retained class analysis while abandoning proletarian class-consciousness as impossible — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 679; Adorno used class to mean proletarian class-consciousness, not objective economic position. — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 1050 (+1 more)
• QUESTION: Which specific integrative phenomena does Adorno have in mind — welfare state, consumer culture, mass media? Worth grounding in the actual lecture.

Broader Connections

• Class difference persists even as class consciousness converges #corroborates (0.92) — Theodor W. Adorno, Minima Moralia, 193