Horkheimer defended the Institute’s unorthodox American research methods against conformity.

Evidence

The preliminary results of this second area of study were three analyses: one by Lowenthal on George Allison Phelps, one by Massing on Joseph E. McWilliams, and one by Adorno on Martin Luther Thomas. Horkheimer said of Adorno’s analysis that it was not done in the strictly traditional American way', but that it was better to attempt things by such methods by which we can do them best rather than to put ourselves into a straight jacket [sic]’. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 382

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the account of Horkheimer’s Mannesmann factory-research dispute, where he again defended the Institute’s proprietary approach over mainstream social science. — connects to: Horkheimer defended teaching Marxism as a university’s scientific duty — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 149; Horkheimer’s contempt for systematic empirical analysis undermined collaboration with Kirchheimer — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 976; Horkheimer positioned the Institute as universal social analysis to avoid threatening specialist sociology. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 461 (+6 more)
• yield-rescued: below the book’s yield-target cutoff, included anyway for connecting to: Horkheimer defended teaching Marxism as a university’s scientific duty — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 149; Horkheimer’s contempt for systematic empirical analysis undermined collaboration with Kirchheimer — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 976; Horkheimer positioned the Institute as universal social analysis to avoid threatening specialist sociology. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 461 (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• Horkheimer favored dialectical insight over empirical research into the facts. #contradicts (0.95) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 745
• Horkheimer sought to fuse European critical theory with American empirical methods #expands (0.92) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1520
• Horkheimer’s contempt for systematic empirical analysis undermined collaboration with Kirchheimer #complicates (0.90) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 976
• Horkheimer attacked the study’s empirical handling as biased against ordinary people’s small hopes. #complicates (0.80) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 582
• Horkheimer positioned the Institute as universal social analysis to avoid threatening specialist sociology. #complicates (0.78) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 461