Theodor Adorno
Theodor Adorno (originally Theodor Wiesengrund-Adorno) (September 11, 1903 - August 6, 1969) was a German philosopher, sociologist, music theorist, composer and a member of the Frankfurt School along with Max Horkheimer, Walter Benjamin, Herbert Marcuse, JÃÂürgen Habermas, etc. He was also the Music Director of the Radio Project. Adorno coined the term "culture industry" to describe his theory of how society is controlled by a top-down creation of standardised culture to commodify products.
Adorno wrote Dialectic of Enlightenment (with Horkheimer), Aesthetic Theory, Minima Moralia, Negative Dialectics, and many other books. He wrote prolifically and passionately about music, and a collection of his essays on the subject, many of which were previously untranslated into English, have been collected and published as Essays on Music.
Adorno (front right) and Horkheimer (front left); Habermas in back, right. Heidelberg, 1964.
See also: Critical Theory, New musicology.
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