Adorno prioritized analyzing class struggle within dialectical materialism from 1936 onward

Evidence

Already in a letter to Horkheimer from November 1936, Adorno reveals what strikes him as ‘the most important task towards which the Institute should put the theory of dialectical materialism to use, namely, a theoretical analysis of the contemporary situation of class struggle’. Prompted by his collaboration with Horkheimer on their work Dialectic of Enlightenment, Adorno would take up this task himself in 1942, penning a set of theses later published under the title ‘Reflections on Class Theory’. — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 628

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to Adorno’s ‘Reflections on Class Theory’ and the Dialectic of Enlightenment collaboration—relevant to the revisionist project countering the pessimistic reading. — connects to: Adorno demanded theoretical mediation between superstructure and substructure in historical materialism. — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 280; Class analysis is central to Adorno’s Critical Theory — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 1472; Adorno endorsed class-struggle theory while speculating independently of class categories — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 386

Broader Connections

• Class analysis is central to Adorno’s Critical Theory #corroborates (0.85) — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 1472