| Max Horkheimer is the leader of the Frankfurt School and the founder of social critical theory.He has a prominent position in the ideological and cultural field of the 20 th century.In response to the phenomenon of cultural alienation in the period of monopoly capitalism,he put forward and expounded the famous assertion of "cultural industry",and made a fierce criticism of the popular cultural reality of capitalism.Its theory had an important influence on the development direction of the entire Frankfurt School theory and later popular culture research.Since Horkheimer lived in the era of fascist cultural autocracy in the 20 th century,he had a deep understanding of the way in which cultural means were used to strengthen the control of the people’s minds.Later,his exile in the United States made him more-clear that mass culture has become a commodity full of paradox,embodying the ideology of capitalism,and the autonomy and criticality of human beings as subjects have disappeared.Therefore,under the influence of the critical spirit of Marxist philosophy and the influence of early Western Marxist figures such as GEORG LUKACS and ANTONIO GRAMSCI,Horkheimer began a critique of capitalist mass culture.This article first sorts out the background and theoretical origin of Horkheimer’s mass culture theory.Secondly,it analyzes the core concept of "Cultural Industry" and the relationship between "Culture Industry" and "Culture Industry".Taking the Frankfurt School’s classics of "Cultivation of Dialectics" as the main text,the content of critical theory of mass culture is discussed from different dimensions.Thirdly,the objective evaluation of Horkheimer’s critical theory of popular culture was carried out.Although Horkheimer stood on an elitist standpoint and criticized popular culture with strong subjectivity and absoluteness,the critical spirit contained in it is worthy of our study.Finally,by combining Horkheimer’s critical theory of mass culture,a critical perspective analysis of the problems in the development of China’s self-media industry is made,and some heuristic suggestions are proposed. |
