Horkheimer treated the well-off sensitive minority as those who grasp systemic social evil

Evidence

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> (#corroborates`, via linked claim)

His primary concern was still indignation about social injustice, about the contrast between wealth and poverty. Horkheimer was here able to draw on his own experience as the son of a millionaire, which protected him from any suspicion that he was merely harbouring resentment. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 185 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Horkheimer held that moral character is a luxury only economic security can purchase; Horkheimer saw only sensitive privileged classes as able to perceive society’s contradictions — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 198; Horkheimer’s millionaire background shielded his social criticism from accusations of resentment — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 185

Broader Connections

• Horkheimer saw only sensitive privileged classes as able to perceive society’s contradictions #corroborates (1.00) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 198
• Horkheimer’s millionaire background shielded his social criticism from accusations of resentment #expands (0.80) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 185