Theodor Adorno

Theodor Adorno spent some time living in Hollywood, with access to close observation of the culture industry. He argued that popular media, the product of the culture industry works to preserve capitalism's dominance by keeping the population passive. The pleasure offered by standardized mass media is illusory, and strictly in response to false needs created by culture. Adorno felt that people who were passively satisfied by products of the culture industry were politically apathetic. This system was proof to Adorno of capitalism's further entrenchment, the status quo being secured by culture, rather than strictly by economics.