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JKBelieve Posted 20 years ago
Grammar
I don't understand this passage..... plz help me
As Horkheimer and Adorno stressed, the essential characteristic of the culture industry is repetition. Adorno illustrates this by contrasting ‘popular’ and ‘serious’ music. As early as his 1936 essay ‘On Jazz’, Adorno had argued that an essential characteristic of popular music was its standardization. ‘On Popular Music’, written in 1941, repeats this point. “The whole structure of popular music is standardized, even where the attempt is made to circumvent standardization. Standardization extends from the most general features to the most specific ones.” Standardization implies the interchangeability, the substitutability of parts.
By contrast, ‘serious music’ is a ‘concrete totality’ for Adorno, whereby “every detail derives its musical sense from the concrete totality of the piece.” This is a dialectical relationship, whereby the totality is constituted of the organic interrelation of the particulars. In the case of serious music, interchangeability is not possible; if a detail is omitted, “all is lost.”
Other illustrations could be given, such as the soap operas with their substitutable episodes, horror films with their formulas, etc. This repetition is due to the reflection in the sphere of cultural production of the standardized and repetitive processes of monopoly capitalist industry. Under late capitalism, what happens at work in the factory or in the office can only be escaped by approximating it in one’s leisure time. This sets the terms for cultural products: “no independent thinking must be expected from the audiences” instead, “the product prescribes every reaction.” The standardization of the cultural product leads to the standardization of the audience. “Man as a member of a species has been made a reality by the culture industry. Now any person signifies only those attributes by which he can replace everybody else; he is interchangeable.” Standardization, says Adorno, “divests the listener of his spontaneity and promotes conditioned reflexes.” To this point, the argument suggests that both popular culture and its audience suffer a radical loss of significance under late capitalism.
As you can see it's a rather lengthy passage. What I don't understand is the underlined green bit but I felt that you would need the whole passage in order to interpret the green bit. Please don't be discouraged by the length of this passage and explain what the green bit is saying. Thank you so very much.
By contrast, ‘serious music’ is a ‘concrete totality’ for Adorno, whereby “every detail derives its musical sense from the concrete totality of the piece.” This is a dialectical relationship, whereby the totality is constituted of the organic interrelation of the particulars. In the case of serious music, interchangeability is not possible; if a detail is omitted, “all is lost.”
Other illustrations could be given, such as the soap operas with their substitutable episodes, horror films with their formulas, etc. This repetition is due to the reflection in the sphere of cultural production of the standardized and repetitive processes of monopoly capitalist industry. Under late capitalism, what happens at work in the factory or in the office can only be escaped by approximating it in one’s leisure time. This sets the terms for cultural products: “no independent thinking must be expected from the audiences” instead, “the product prescribes every reaction.” The standardization of the cultural product leads to the standardization of the audience. “Man as a member of a species has been made a reality by the culture industry. Now any person signifies only those attributes by which he can replace everybody else; he is interchangeable.” Standardization, says Adorno, “divests the listener of his spontaneity and promotes conditioned reflexes.” To this point, the argument suggests that both popular culture and its audience suffer a radical loss of significance under late capitalism.
As you can see it's a rather lengthy passage. What I don't understand is the underlined green bit but I felt that you would need the whole passage in order to interpret the green bit. Please don't be discouraged by the length of this passage and explain what the green bit is saying. Thank you so very much.
Top answer
JKBelieve Under late capitalism, what happens at work in the factory or in the office can only be escaped by approximating it in one’s leisure time. Hello JKB Happy New Year! The article you put is a bit too philosophical for me, but I think I got what the sentence in the question means.
- JKBelieve Under late capitalism, what happens at work in the factory or in the office can only be escaped by approximating it in one’s leisure time.
- Hello JKB Happy New Year!
- The article you put is a bit too philosophical for me, but I think I got what the sentence in the question means.
- "Late capitalism" is a system where production of goods was (and maybe is) made efficient not only by standardizing the products but also by standardizing the workers themselves at the factory.
- That sort of standardization would be agony to the workers and they would get rebellious against it if they enjoy an individual (or serious) private life at their leisure time.
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14 Answers
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JKBelieveUnder late capitalism, what happens at work in the factory or in the office can only be escaped by approximating it in one’s leisure time.Hello JKB
Happy New Year!
The article you put is a bit too philosophical for me, but I think I got what the sentence in the question means.
"L
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The authors see, under late capitalism, standardization both of products and persons. Individuals in a capitalist culture are portrayed as so standardized that even when these individuals want to escape from the forms of standardization in the workplace, they end up substituting those forms with equivalent ones in their leisure lives.
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I'm an english learner, here's my own understanding, just for your information:
Under late capitalism, what happens at work in the factory or in the office can only be escaped by approximating it in one’s leisure time. This sets the terms for cultural products: “no independent thinking must be expected from the audiences” instead, “the pr
Under late capitalism, what happens at work in the factory or in the office can only be escaped by approximating it in one’s leisure time. This sets the terms for cultural products: “no independent thinking must be expected from the audiences” instead, “the pr
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In the historical period known as "late capitalism", the only escape from the repetitive processes of factory work is the repetitive entertainments offered by the 'culture industry', i.e., those who mass-produce such entertainments.
Note: I am uncertain whether this is the exact meaning, because I find "can only be escaped by" a troubling phrasing. Is the intent to say that the
Note: I am uncertain whether this is the exact meaning, because I find "can only be escaped by" a troubling phrasing. Is the intent to say that the
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Capitalism depends upon the ability to profit from the delivery of a product. The best way to profit from a product is to convince the individuals in the culture that they need the product, whatever it is: cars, cellphones, drugs, hair restoration, credit cards, insurance, beer, eentertainment . Convincing a culture that it needs these products requires the standardization of desire and values.
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...what happens at work in the factory or in the office can only be escaped by approximating it in one’s leisure time....
To my ears, the restrictive "only" heightens the irony. I take the statement not as a literal description of every case, but as an ironic straight-faced presentation of an imaginary consensus:
1. (It's as if) X
To my ears, the restrictive "only" heightens the irony. I take the statement not as a literal description of every case, but as an ironic straight-faced presentation of an imaginary consensus:
1. (It's as if) X
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MrPedanticTo my ears, the restrictive "only" heightens the irony.
To mine, too.
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"Under late capitalism, what happens at work in the factory or in the office can only be escaped by approximating it in one's leisure time."
I've got the same problem here of getting what "it" indicates exactly in this sentence.
If I dare put it in my way, "we can escape from this mind-boggling routine of repetition at work only through putting it(what happens at work : the
I've got the same problem here of getting what "it" indicates exactly in this sentence.
If I dare put it in my way, "we can escape from this mind-boggling routine of repetition at work only through putting it(what happens at work : the
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Wow! What's Horkheimer's native language? This sounds like a bad translation, going back to the OP.
(But it's been aired by the best of the best!)
Woops!, Sorry, this is some anonymous writer referring to Horkheimer and Adorno.
So the only escape is really no escape at all.
The "it" is the office/factory routine. You try to escape it by going home and duplicating
(But it's been aired by the best of the best!)
Woops!, Sorry, this is some anonymous writer referring to Horkheimer and Adorno.
So the only escape is really no escape at all.
The "it" is the office/factory routine. You try to escape it by going home and duplicating
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