Adorno saw immersion in art theory as forcing a turn toward social theory

Evidence

Adorno agreed enthusiastically: Both your criticisms and my own reflections seem to me to converge on a single point: whether we should really continue, as we intended, to focus our joint work on art, or whether in God’s name we shouldn’t finally start talking about society itself. While I was writing the piece on music, I, too, increasingly had the impression that it implied a farewell to art theory, for a considerable time at least … and I can already tell you that I not only agree with shifting the emphasis on to questions of society as such, but that precisely a knowledge of art makes such a `transition’ necessary. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 324

Categorization

• SEED: An essay angle: why deep aesthetic analysis culminates in abandoning aesthetics for social theory — the claim that art knowledge itself compels the transition.
• XREF: Connects to Adorno’s own writings on the culture industry and to the reader’s interest in the Frankfurt School’s disciplinary migrations. — connects to: Adorno’s core project was the possibility of art, not social theory like Horkheimer’s. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 207; Adorno held that advanced art serves society by ignoring its audience. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 212; Adorno analyzed artworks without a model mediating culture and the economy. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 234 (+8 more)
• yield-rescued: below the book’s yield-target cutoff, included anyway for connecting to: Adorno’s core project was the possibility of art, not social theory like Horkheimer’s. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 207; Adorno held that advanced art serves society by ignoring its audience. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 212; Adorno analyzed artworks without a model mediating culture and the economy. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 234 (+8 more)

Broader Connections

• Adorno believed a knowledge of art made the turn to social theory necessary. #corroborates (0.95) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1257