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This book draws on core concepts coined by Adorno, such as identity thinking, the culture industry, and his critique of the autonomous and rational subject, to address the ills that plague neoliberal capitalist societies today. These ills range from the risk of a return to totalitarian tendencies, to the global rise of the far-right, and anti-feminist conceptions of motherhood. Subsequent chapters outline the ways in which Adorno's thought can also be seen to redress the challenges of modern societies, such as the critical function of artworks, and the subversive potential of slow-food and popular music. The important underlying concern of the book is to highlight the continuing relevance of Adorno, both in dealing with the failures of neo-liberal capitalist societies, and in his applicability to a wide range of disciplines.
List of contents
Part 1. Diagnosis.- 1. Two Critiques of Identity: Adorno and Castoriadis on the Capitalist Imaginary; Craig Browne.- 2. Adorno, De Martino and the Adventures of the Self; Stefano Petrucciani.- 3. The Truth-Potential (Wahrheitsgehalt) of the Culture Industry: On the Actuality of Horkheimer and Adorno's diagnosis; Hauke Brunkhorst.- 4. Laughing at the Other: Toward an Understanding of the Alt-Right with Adorno; Claudia Leeb.- 5. Bella Swan and Katniss Everdeen: The Expectation of Motherhood in the Culture Industry; Laci Hubbard-Mattix.- Part 2. Remedy.- 6. The Sensible and the Intelligible: Artistic Form and Testimony in Adorno's Reflections; Giuseppe Di Giacomo.- 7. Adorno and the Subversive Potential of Popular Music; Hans-Herbert Kögler.- 8. Adorno and the Magic Square: Schönberg and Stravinsky in Mann's Doctor Faustus; Geoff Boucher.- 9. 'Idiot with a Spoon': Adorno, Petrini, and the Oppositional Politics of Slow Food; Mary Caputi.- 10. Functionalism Yesterday, Functionalism Tomorrow: Thoughts Inspired by Adorno's Address to the Deutscher Werkbund, "Funktionalismus Heute," Delivered in Berlin on October 3, 1965; Barry M. Katz.
About the author
Amirhosein Khandizaji holds a PhD in Sociology, Free University of Berlin, Germany, and is the Founding Editor of the Berlin Journal of Critical Theory.
Summary
This book draws on core concepts coined by Adorno, such as identity thinking, the culture industry, and his critique of the autonomous and rational subject, to address the ills that plague neoliberal capitalist societies today. These ills range from the risk of a return to totalitarian tendencies, to the global rise of the far-right, and anti-feminist conceptions of motherhood. Subsequent chapters outline the ways in which Adorno's thought can also be seen to redress the challenges of modern societies, such as the critical function of artworks, and the subversive potential of slow-food and popular music. The important underlying concern of the book is to highlight the continuing relevance of Adorno, both in dealing with the failures of neo-liberal capitalist societies, and in his applicability to a wide range of disciplines.
