Adorno retained class analysis while abandoning proletarian class-consciousness as impossible

Evidence

Although Adorno still espouses the concept of class in ‘Reflections’ given that ‘its basis, the division of society into exploiters and exploited, not only continues unabated but is increasing in coercion and solidity’, he abandons the assumption of a proletarian class-consciousness, arguing that ‘the oppressed who today, as predicted by the [Marxian] theory, constitute the overwhelming majority of mankind are unable to experience themselves as a class’. For this reason, Adorno claims, ‘[m]embership in the same class by no means translates into equality of interests and action’, and ‘the idea that the oppressed, the workers of the world, might unite as a class and put an end to the horror seems doomed in the light of the present distribution of power and impotence’. — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 679

Categorization

• XREF: This is the core revisionist argument: Adorno’s supposed ‘pessimistic cul-de-sac’ is actually a deliberate theoretical move — keeping the class category while rejecting the Hegelian-Marxian assumption that the oppressed inevitably develop revolutionary consciousness. Directly serves the reader’s stated reading purpose. — connects to: Adorno kept class struggle but demoted it from analytical focus — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination: A History…, 1743; Adorno developed an independent theory of class beyond Marx’s — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 1468; Class analysis is central to Adorno’s Critical Theory — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 1472 (+7 more)
• SEED: Potential essay angle: Adorno as a more rigorous materialist than orthodox Marxism — refusing to treat consciousness as an automatic epiphenomenon of structural position.

Broader Connections

• Adorno developed an independent theory of class beyond Marx’s #expands (0.85) — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 1468
• Adorno held that class-consciousness diminishes despite persistent class antagonism. #exemplifies (0.85) — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 1402
• Class analysis is central to Adorno’s Critical Theory #corroborates (0.80) — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 1472
• Adorno used class to mean proletarian class-consciousness, not objective economic position. #contradicts (0.80) — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 1050
• Adorno abandoned revolutionary grounding because the proletarian revolution never materialised #qualifies (0.70) — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 1199