The Horkheimer circle contracted to four people bound by personal loyalty.

Evidence

In the mid-1940s the words Horkheimer circle' referred to four people, each of whom had a special relationship with Horkheimer: Pollock, a faithful partner in the interior’ and co-director of the Institute; Adorno, a faithful partner in work on theory; Lowenthal, a faithful assistant for a variety of purposes; and Weil, a loyal patron. The process of separation and estrangement from the others became irreversible. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 407

Categorization

• DEFINE: The term ‘Horkheimer circle’ is explained as a specific four-person set rather than a loose school.
• XREF: connects to: The Horkheimer circle had shrunk to four insiders by the mid-1940s — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 1636; Horkheimer secured control by cultivating individual, contradictory special relationships with each staff member — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 284
• yield-rescued: below the book’s yield-target cutoff, included anyway for connecting to: The Horkheimer circle had shrunk to four insiders by the mid-1940s — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 1636; Horkheimer secured control by cultivating individual, contradictory special relationships with each staff member — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 284

Broader Connections

• The Horkheimer circle had shrunk to four insiders by the mid-1940s #corroborates (0.95) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1636