Language works by exchange rules mirroring economic exchange, not by free expression.

Evidence

Free expression requires free individuals, which do not exist at present. What instead exists are subjects who exchange opinions, and when people speak of exchanging opinions or information, this is not merely a metaphor. Exchange really does take place, and this means that the relevant rules must be followed – rules which, among their other functions, uphold the illusion that language as well must bow to the dictate of rationality if it wants to mean something. — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 1000

Categorization

• DEFINE: States the positive content of Adorno’s claim that ‘exchanging opinions’ is literal exchange, a key conceptual move in his theory of language under capital.
• XREF: Connects to the reader’s prior work on Milgrom and other exchange/institution theory, and to Adorno’s analysis of the exchange principle from Minima Moralia. — connects to: Language in the culture industry calculates and incites but no longer expresses. — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 258; Power and language are not disembedding mechanisms like money — Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity, 66; Language choice serves intellectual hegemony, not mere communication — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 2086 (+3 more)
• ADDENDUM: The equation of opinion-exchange with commodity exchange mirrors how the ‘On Sacrifice’ piece treats ritual exchange-logic, a parallel worth exploring.

Broader Connections

• Power and language are not disembedding mechanisms like money #corroborates (0.82) — Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity, 66
• Language choice serves intellectual hegemony, not mere communication #expands (0.80) — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 2086
• Ideology operates through language itself, not merely through false beliefs #expands (0.80) — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man, 698
• Language enables meanings rather than passively carrying them #expands (0.75)
• Philosophical language must interweave expression and communication, neither reducible to the other #expands (0.72) — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 1014