Postwar Critical Theory reframed its target as the collective’s assault on individual autonomy.
Evidence
Horkheimer’s description of this other danger gathered together the various themes of the new Critical Theory, the central idea of which was the direct attack on individuals by the collective, which no longer allowed them to achieve individuality. The defence of the individual against the collective, although it was aimed very much at capitalist countries, particularly in its critique of the culture industry, nevertheless fitted perfectly into the USA’s self-image. According to this, American democracy meant actively developing the individual in opposition to the collectivism dominant in fascism and communism. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 425
Categorization
- DEFINE: Names the organizing concept of the Institute’s ‘new Critical Theory’ after the war: the collective’s direct attack on the individual.
- XREF: Connects to earlier chapters on the culture industry and on Critical Theory’s critique of mass society. — connects to: Postwar socialized risk paradigms grew out of the struggle for collective autonomy — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities: Living with…, 250; Adorno and Horkheimer saw postwar society as administered capitalism expropriating individual autonomy — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 2313; Autonomy is threatened by capitalism’s mutual implication of life and technology — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection: How Data Is…, 566 (+2 more)
- yield-rescued: below the book’s yield-target cutoff, included anyway for connecting to: Postwar socialized risk paradigms grew out of the struggle for collective autonomy — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities: Living with…, 250; Adorno and Horkheimer saw postwar society as administered capitalism expropriating individual autonomy — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 2313; Autonomy is threatened by capitalism’s mutual implication of life and technology — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection: How Data Is…, 566 (+2 more)
Broader Connections
- Postwar socialized risk paradigms grew out of the struggle for collective autonomy
#complicates(0.75) — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities, 250