Culture industry and the decline of individuality

• Grant number: 18/06273-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: November 01, 2018
• End date: October 31, 2019
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Philosophy - Ethics
• Principal Investigator: Sinésio Ferraz Bueno
• Grantee: Bruna Adolpho Dezotti
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia e Ciências (FFC). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Marília. Marília , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This research will intend to grasp the meaning of the concept of Culture Industry proposed by Adorno and Horkheimer, and relate it with the phenomenon of pseudo-individualization. According to Adorno, pseudo-individualization expresses the illusion of free choice, supposedly present on consumer's relation with cultural products. The concept rises in the musical sphere and it is justified by the concealment of the conditioned reflexes that submits the listeners. The comprehension of the concept of pseudo-individualization will be preceded by the individuality's decline process exposure, which, according to Horkheimer, occurred during the transition of liberal capitalism to monopolistic capitalism.