The Evolution Of The Culture Industry Theories

Since the late 19th and the early 20th century, the rapid development of modern science and technology makes it possible to reproduce and disseminate the cultural products, and the culture industry has an unprecedented prosperity. While people enjoy the pleasure the culture industry brings, they suffer from a series of negative effects. With regard to this phenomenon, theorists of different schools have studied it. From Benjamin's positive attitude to Adorno and Horkheimer's pessimistic and negative opinion and to British cultural studies'positive view, the course of the theory undergoes a process of negation of negation. Theorists'understanding goes from a one-sided view to an objective and dialectical view. The study of the theory undergoes a process of decreasingly influenced by the macro-environment and finally comes into the phase of micro-level.At first, this thesis analyzes the social, historical and cultural contexts to generate Adorno and Horkheimer's theory. The cognitive model of Western Marxism, disasters brought by Fascism to the 'Institute of Social Studies', and the flourished American popular culture contribute to the pessimistic and negative colour.Then, the thesis analyzes the characteristics of different periods from modernity, to post-modernity and to the multi-dimensional future: emphasis on the rationality, the return to irrationality, and conflict and blending, and different critical theories concerning different culture industry in different periods: Benjamin's positive attitude, Adorno and Horkheimer's pessimistic and negative opinion and the positive view of the British Cultural Studies. The course of theoretical evolution shows that the social, historical and cultural contexts are the factors to influence the theory, and that human's understanding undergoes a process of negation of negation.Finally, this thesis predicts the new stage of the culture industry theory in the future. Since the culture industry is the historical inevitability with the characteristics of constructivity and corrosivity, it tends to be industrialized, commercialized, secularized and consumerist. Correspondingly, the culture industry theory will be neutral and de-ideologized, and theorists will make a micro-level study.To sum up, the culture industry theory goes through a process of negation of negation. It has a practically guiding significance. The emergence of a theory is closely related with the specific context, therefore, we should analyze the specific social, historical and cultural contexts in which the theory comes into being. So we should see things with a dynamic, developing, diachronic, and dialectical eye, but not with a rigid eye. In addition, the law of negation of negation reveals the law of theoretical evolution, which has an important directing significance and a reference value for theorists to study new theory.