Cultural Criticism Of Frankfurt School And Chinese Popular Culture

Faced with the rapid development of popular culture since the 1990's, some Chinese intellectuals are feeling extremely anxious. Frankfurt School supplies them with criticism weapon. The critical tradition that Frankfurt School established is widely influential. In this thesis, the author selects many aspects to analyze the cultural theory of Frankfurt School and expect that benefits to contemporary research on popular culture.Firstly, the author puts forward the question and reflects the status of research at present domestically. He describes the situation of culture criticism of Frankfurt school developed in China. Also he focuses on some special problems and then explains the standpoint and method of his research.Secondly, this thesis makes a brief introduction on Cultural criticism of Frankfurt school. Towards mass culture, Frankfurt school criticizes commercial, standard and affirmative characteristic and function of thought control, and then they are denied to mass/popular culture.Thirdly, the author will study those disputes on Frankfurt school from contemporary scholars. For example, traditional Marxism criticize them for deviating from practice; Post-modern theories criticize them for having a tendency to elitism; Frankfurt school thinks mass culture has lost the negativity and transcending and become the tool that the ruling class implemented ideology. While English culture researcher stress the initiative of the mass which is the power to resist to the ideological controlling.Fourthly, the author tries to analyze the case of"pleasure"idol of Chinese popular culture by criticism perspective of Frankfurt school. It is hedonism and pleasure worship of Chinese popular culture that do harm to our society.Finally, the author thinks the popular culture as well as its rise and prosperity should be treated dialectically. Meanwhile, he appreciates the significance of critical practice of cross-disciplinary of Frankfurt school contemporarily.