Mass passivity enables a power structure whose illusion resists objective unmasking.
Evidence
The objectification by which the power structure (which is made possible only by the passivity of the masses) appears as an iron reality, has become so dense that any spontaneity or even a mere intimation of the true state of affairs becomes an unacceptable utopia, or deviant sectarianism. The illusion has become so concentrated that a mere attempt to penetrate it objectively itself appears as an illusion. — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 163
Categorization
- DEEPTHINKING: The claim that the attempt to see through ideology itself looks like illusion is a dense, recursive paradox central to Adorno’s whole project.
- XREF: connects to: A mass medium’s hidden message can bypass conscious resistance and insert itself — Theodor W. Adorno, The Culture Industry: Selected Essays…, 222; Power conceals itself through intense effort, not through passivity — Grégoire Chamayou, A Theory of the Drone, 651; Elites legitimate their power by invoking a consensus they themselves pre-structure — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 875 (+3 more)
Broader Connections
- Power conceals itself through intense effort, not through passivity
#contradicts(0.85) — Grégoire Chamayou, A Theory of the Drone, 651 - Power functions automatically when subjects believe they are always visible
#exemplifies(0.80) — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 313 - A mass medium’s hidden message can bypass conscious resistance and insert itself
#complicates(0.75) — Theodor W. Adorno, The Culture Industry, 222 - Elites legitimate their power by invoking a consensus they themselves pre-structure
#expands(0.75) — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 875