Horkheimer held that moral character is a luxury only economic security can purchase

Evidence

A millionaire, or even his wife, can afford an upright and noble character, they can develop every admirable quality possible … The smaller manufacturer is at a disadvantage here, too. He needs exploitative personal characteristics to survive. This moral' disadvantage increases as one's rank in the production process decreases. — <cite>Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 191</cite> (#corroborates`, via linked claim)

However, precisely where theory and suffering coincided, revolutionary action and fearless commitment could not, in Horkheimer’s view, be expected. The fact that many people are poorly off, even though everyone could be well off . . . necessitates the poisoning of the public mind with lies and is driving this social order towards collapse'. Yet, among those people who suffered through this poisoning, Horkheimer considered only the more sensitive members of the privileged classes, who were also able to perceive the evil in the fact that there was no organic relationship between the individual and society, that each person's contribution was not duly recognized and that the good things in life usually fell to the worst sort of people. — <cite>Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 198</cite> (#expands`, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Moral character is a luxury only economic security can purchase — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 191; Horkheimer saw only sensitive privileged classes as able to perceive society’s contradictions — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 198; Horkheimer treated the well-off sensitive minority as those who grasp systemic social evil

Broader Connections

• Moral character is a luxury only economic security can purchase #corroborates (1.00) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 191
• Horkheimer saw only sensitive privileged classes as able to perceive society’s contradictions #expands (0.85) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 198
• Horkheimer treated the well-off sensitive minority as those who grasp systemic social evil #expands (0.85)