Capitalist commodification of music causes listeners’ hearing to regress psychologically to infantile passivity.

Evidence

Because music had been invaded by the capitalist ethos, its fetishization was almost total. On one level, that of production, it appeared in the inordinate focus on arrangements rather than composition, in the frequent introduction of coloristic effects, and in the nostalgic resurrection of outdated musical styles for their evocative value. On another, the reception of the music, it manifested itself in the stress on “stars,” in both classical (for example, Toscanini) and popular music; in the cult of instruments such as Stradivarius and Amati violins; in the importance of being at the “right” concert rather than going to hear the music itself; and in the empty ecstasy of the jazz enthusiast who listens for the sake of listening alone. To verify fetishization, however, by normal social scientific techniques was impossible - here was the crux of his conflict with Lazarsfeld. Questionnaires or interviews were inadequate because the opinions of the listeners themselves were unreliable. Not only were they incapable of overcoming the conformity of cultural norms, but even more fundamentally, their ability to hear had itself degenerated. It had regressed, not physiologically, but psychologically. The regression was not to an earlier musical era, but rather to an infantile state in which the listener was docile and afraid of anything new, a state similar to the passive dependency Fromm had described in his article “The Feeling of Impotency.” Like children who demand only food they have enjoyed in the past, the listener whose hearing had regressed could respond only to a repetition of what he had heard before. — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 578

Categorization

• DEFINE: Adorno’s concept of ‘musical regression’ is defined here as an infantile, psychically passive mode of listening, distinct from physiological degeneration.
• XREF: Connects to Fromm’s ‘The Feeling of Impotency’ and the wider Frankfurt School analysis of authoritarian personality and passive dependency. — connects to: Pervasive music extends political domination by breaking down individual resistance — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism: A Marxist…, 571; Mass music’s regressive listening confirms rather than merely diverts its audience — Theodor W. Adorno, The Culture Industry: Selected Essays…, 96; Emancipated parts reduce music to particular sensory pleasures and treatment over material (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• Mass listening regresses to an infantile, forcibly retarded stage rather than remaining undeveloped #corroborates (0.95) — Theodor W. Adorno, The Culture Industry, 92
• Mass music’s regressive listening confirms rather than merely diverts its audience #corroborates (0.92) — Theodor W. Adorno, The Culture Industry, 96
• Deconcentrated listening makes perception of a musical whole impossible #expands (0.80) — Theodor W. Adorno, The Culture Industry, 95
• Emancipated parts reduce music to particular sensory pleasures and treatment over material #expands (0.78)
• The stated rationales for musical arrangement conceal economic and aesthetic falsity #complicates (0.70)