On July 2nd of this year Ron Paul tweeted an extremely racist cartoon which he removed not long after posting it (https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1014008611415166976). The cartoon depicted insulting stereotypes of a Jew, an African-American, an Asian, and a Latino knocking out Uncle Sam while shouting “Cultural Marxism”. In this derogatory and inflammatory tweet, Ron Paul was alerting individuals of his ilk to the dangers of a school of thought called the Frankfurt School. The supposed dire threat posed by these thinkers who were all of Jewish descent is part of a right-wing conspiracy that sees their ideas as forming the basis of modern identity politics beginning in the 1960’s (see https://www.lewrockwell.com/2018/02/no_author/the-frankfurt-school-and-the-new-left-sorcerers-apprentices-and-hobgoblins/ for an example). Like most conspiracy theories, this one is fueled more by hatred and a serious distortion and mischaracterization of the “offending” ideas promulgated by those deemed dangerous. There is little that resembles the rigorous scholarship and cogent critiques provided by those who made up the Frankfurt School. These thinkers exercised an important influence in a number of areas including philosophy, sociology, psychology, cultural studies, and economics. Moreover, the contributions of the Frankfurt School have considerable merit and relevance to many of the significant issues we face today due to the ascendance and ongoing destructive influence of neoliberalism. For that reason, in this essay I will provide an overview of the key ideas and contributions of the Frankfurt School.

The Frankfurt School, also known as Critical Theory, had its beginning in 1923 with the founding of the Institute for Social Research. Its founders were neo-Marxists who believed that traditional Marxist theory did not adequately explain the development and impacts of capitalism occurring in the 20th century. They were also critical of the form of socialism practiced in the Soviet Union. From its inception it was interdisciplinary and members of the Frankfurt School wrote on a broad range of subjects adding to Marxist thought insights from psychoanalysis, existentialism, sociologists such as Max Weber, and critics of the ascendance of positivist philosophy in science. Despite this diversity and clear differences among its representatives, there are certain common themes with Critical Theory.

Attendees at the founding of the Institute for Social Research

Like Marx they saw philosophy as doing more than just seeking to understand the world, but also needing to use knowledge practically in order to change it. In particular, Critical Theory is devoted to liberating people from the oppressive circumstances that enslave them. This was to be achieved, in part, by critically analyzing taken for granted assumptions held by people at large that make up an ideology whose purpose it is to ensure the maintenance of power by the elite, to disguise power relationships, and to secure the consent of the dominated classes to their own oppression. Critical Theorists agree that this ideology was late stage capitalism or what is currently called neoliberalism. Ideology is a very powerful force in human life. It essentially functions as a comprehensive world-view composed of social, political, and economic beliefs, values, and assumptions that is inculcated in all members of a society that then guides their thoughts and behaviors. This world-view serves as a buffer against human being’s deepest fear of loss of themselves and their world. It is thus passionately held on to and defended with a life-or-death attitude.

There is another dimension to ideology highlighted by Critical Theory and that is its role in oppression. All ideologies must be situated historically as they reflect social, political, cultural and economic forces prevalent at certain times. Thus, the current ideology of neoliberalism must be placed within a historical context in order to understand how it has achieved its dominance and how it continues to exert force to maintain that dominance. Additionally, ideologies perform a political function. Antonio Gramsci, an Italian Marxist philosopher whose work bears a number of similarities to Critical Theory, proposed the concept of hegemony. By this he meant a dominant ideology that permeates all aspects of life and that is diffused throughout an entire society. This ideology makes up what is considered “common sense” or unquestioned and taken for granted notions and values that are uncritically examined by all members of a society. The ultimate purpose of hegemony is to maintain the status quo by upholding the world-view of the powerful, perpetuating illusions intended to keep the subaltern classes submissive and ignorant of what it going on, and securing the consent of the oppressed to their domination. A wide variety of strategies called mystification are used to obfuscate, confuse and distract the oppressed and thwart any attempts at their awakening and resistance.

Critical Theorists sought to provide the methods and tools to unveil hegemony, to expose oppression and to promote emancipatory change. By realizing that all ideologies are composed of constructs that have their basis in history and are utilized to exert power and dominance, individuals are able to challenge the false assertion that the world-view presented is a characterization of objective facts that are irrefutable and incapable of change. Critical Theorists saw this illusion as based in a positivist philosophy that took natural science as its model and proposes that all knowledge must be based in sensory knowledge which can be objectively measured and validated and that facts must be separated from values. Using this positivist philosophy the hegemonic world-view along with the rules, regulations, and principle it propounds are expressions of natural laws that cannot be disputed or altered. By reifying the social world in this manner, the substantial role played by history is denied as is the realization that what are called facts are in point of fact interpretations and assumptions advantageous to the powerful and harmful to the oppressed. Once this lie is exposed, individuals are able to see that if an ideology was invented and put into place, it can be critiqued, opposed and replaced with a world-view that would promote movement to a more humane, free and just society.

An excellent current example of this misuse of natural science is the way in which the “market” is characterized by neoliberal ideology as something that actually exists “out there” in reality and that operates in accordance with fixed and inexorable laws no different than gravity. For that reason, it is argued that the market must be kept “free” and not in any way subjected to human or governmental interference. Such interference, it is said, would lead to the market not unfolding in accordance with its natural laws and thus bringing about optimal results and maximum benefits. This view of the “free” market is an utter myth. But more importantly it is a politically expedient myth because it is intended to deny and obscure that the market is manipulated all the time by the wealthy and the powerful to aggrandize themselves at the expense of those who are already disadvantaged and impoverished.

Just as the “market” is rendered in objective terms, so too are human beings. Under the neoliberal ideology, human beings are not seen as ends in themselves. They do not possess any inherent worth or dignity. They are simply means to an end, things to be manipulated, controlled and exploited. This sort of dehumanization lies at the very heart of oppression and the material and psychological harms caused by it. Critical Theorists were alert to this danger and spoke out against it by exposing and critiquing the ideology responsible for it.

One of the chief means by which hegemony is inculcated and reinforced was also exposed by the Critical Theorists, Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno. This was in their work on what they called the “culture industry”. They observed in the 1940s the increasing use of mass media and the entertainment industry as a new means of social control and ideological indoctrination. The messages conveyed by both mass media and entertainment are utterly permeated with hegemonic beliefs and values. They also serve as a potent source of distraction in order to keep the oppressed classes ignorant of the political and economic forces that enslave them. Simultaneously, mass media and entertainment fuel huge profits for corporations by virtue of the commodification of all aspects of human life. The insights of these theorists have since been echoed by others such as Noam Chomsky and his work on the growing role of public relations and propaganda in furthering the neoliberal agenda.

Based on this brief summary of some of the more important and valuable contributions of the Frankfurt School, it is no wonder that the right wing find it so threatening and are quick to vilify its proponents. However, its ideas and message also exposes the false promises and inaction of those on the “left” who offer no real resistance to the ongoing disasters manufactured by neoliberalism. For those who hold progressive values, the work of the Frankfurt School has much to offer. In future postings I will consider additional contributions from their work. Until then if you are intrigued by what is offered here, I urge you to delve into their ideas for yourself. You will be informed and inspired.