Even the most reified institutions still depend on living human subjects.
Evidence
No matter how reified both categories are in reality, neither is totally reified; both refer back to living subjects - just as does the most adventurous cybernetic machine. — Theodor W. Adorno, The Culture Industry, 180
Categorization
- QUESTION: Adorno asserting that even the most reified systems retain a living subjective referent — worth chasing whether this is a genuine loophole in his pessimism about administered society, or a concession that undermines the totalizing critique.
- XREF: connects to: Capital is a hyper-abstract structure that still depends wholly on human cooperation.