The Frankfurt School insisted on intellectual autonomy even from workers and progressive forces

Evidence

The Institut’s zealous preservation of its outsider status was rooted in the recognition that such a position was in some way a precondition for the maintenance of a truly critical posture in its theoretical work. This meant, however, autonomy not only from normal politics, academic establishments, and mass culture, but also from any social forces claiming to embody negation. Unlike more orthodox Marxists, the Frankfurt School never felt that the personal interaction of workers and intellectuals would be beneficial to either. — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 875

Categorization

• DEFINE: Clarifies what the Frankfurt School meant by autonomy: independence not just from the status quo but from any collectivity claiming to embody negation.
• XREF: connects to: The Frankfurt School preserved Marx’s libertarian impulse through the Stalinist era — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination: A History…, 883; The Frankfurt School’s institutional autonomy from party discipline enabled its theoretical innovations. — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination: A History…, 93