The Institute’s long-term versus short-term research rift never resolved by division of labor.

Evidence

A genuine resolution of the conflict between Los Angeles and New York, between an interest in large-scale, long-term and theory-oriented research and an interest in quick results and methodologically well-grounded research, was never achieved. Thanks to Lazarsfeld’s mediation, Flowerman was later given responsibility for short-term research, with Horkheimer having responsibility for the long-term research. However, since the co-ordination of the long-term projects was also mainly carried on in New York, which Horkheimer only rarely visited, and since the publishers with whom the results of the completed projects later appeared were also in New York, the tense relationship between Horkheimer and Flowerman, and between Los Angeles and New York, continued to the end. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1702

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the Institute’s broader institutional tensions during American exile traced throughout the book.