Cultural Industry: A Topic Of Criticism And Reflection

As a new orientation in the field of literature and aesthetic, the contemporary Chinese aesthetic culture has been greatly focused on and heatedly discussed for long. In the author's opinion, the study on contemporary Chinese aesthetic culture oriented to 'reflective construction' faces a problem, that is, how the constructive theories can be constructed. Through the analysis on the constellation-style thought method embodied in Theodo W. Adorno's culture industry critique, the author raises a suggestion that the method should be introduced to the reflective construction process of-theoretical concepts in the study on contemporary Chinese aesthetic culture, thus providing a possible approach for the solution of this problem.This dissertation consists of three chapters. In Chapter One, after making a systematic summary about the orientation of reflective construction specifically displayed in the study on contemporary Chinese aesthetic culture, and after analyzing the relationship existing between the 'reflective', 'constructive' nature of the orientation and 'construction', the author points out that how to construct constructive theories is a vital issue this study faces.In Chapter Two, Adorno's culture industry critique is set for exploration in the two dimensions of social critique and philosophical rational critique. By analyzing Adorno's retrieval of concepts with his constellation-style thought, the author holds that the thought should be one of the most important ways to ensure the realization ofAdorno's reflective and critical spirit. Furthermore, the author reveals that the concepts of 'Enlightenment' and 'Instrumental Rationality' in Adorno's culture industry critique theory should be constellation-style ones, and thus that the constellation-style thought should be implied in the theory.In Chapter Three, focusing on the specific issue of how to construct constructive concepts in the study on contemporary Chinese aesthetic culture, the author reconstructs the concept of 'taste' in the theory of art and literature in the 1980s, and then raises the suggestion of introducing the constellation-style thought method to the reflective construction orientation.