Product differentiation in mass culture functions as consumer classification, not real variety.

Evidence

The ruthless unity in the culture industry is evidence of what will happen in politics. Marked differentiations such as those of A and B films, or of stories in magazines in different price ranges, depend not so much on subject matter as on classifying, organizing, and labeling consumers. Something is provided for all so that none may escape; the distinctions are emphasized and extended. — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 95

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s broader reading on quantification and control — echoes the statistical categorization of consumers in propaganda techniques. — connects to: Mass consumers are calculated objects, not the subjects, of culture production — Theodor W. Adorno, The Culture Industry: Selected Essays…, 138; Cultural reification produces consumer subalternity toward cultural producers — Fredric Jameson, Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic…, 688; Depersonalized products carry more cultural significance than personal ones — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 561 (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• Mass consumers are calculated objects, not the subjects, of culture production #corroborates (0.85) — Theodor W. Adorno, The Culture Industry, 138
• Cultural reification produces consumer subalternity toward cultural producers #expands (0.80) — Fredric Jameson, Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic…, 688
• Market ideology fragments classes into individual consumers and hides production #expands (0.78)
• The culture industry’s products prescribe reactions through signals to forbid reflection #expands (0.75) — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 107
• Depersonalized products carry more cultural significance than personal ones #expands (0.72) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 561