Intellectuals discovering they must earn money produce exactly what they once abjured

Evidence

Usually it is rationalized as humanity, desire to be understood by others, worldly-wise responsibility. But the sacrifice of intellectual self-discipline comes much too easily to its maker for us to believe his assurance that it is one. The most striking example is that of intellectuals whose material situation has changed: no sooner have they only perfunctorily persuaded themselves of the need to earn money by writing and that alone, than they turn out trash identical in all its nuances to what, with ample means, they had most passionately abjured. — Theodor W. Adorno, Minima Moralia, 24

Categorization

• XREF: Directly parallels George Orwell’s contrast of writing for bread versus writing from necessity, and later phenomena of ‘selling out’ diagnosed in professional writing. — connects to: Debunking modernity is a luxury only affluent detached intellectuals can afford — Aijaz Ahmad, In Theory: Nations, Classes, Literatures, 108
• SEED: An essay angle: how economic need reveals rather than causes a writer’s inner downward urge — the materialist test of intellectual standards.

Broader Connections

• Debunking modernity is a luxury only affluent detached intellectuals can afford #epitomizes (0.85) — Aijaz Ahmad, In Theory, 108