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Reviewing Benjamin as an Advocate for Technology: A Focus on Mass Cultural Discourse

Author(s)

Fangfei Su

Affiliation(s)

School of Philosophy, Heilongjiang University, Harbin, China

Abstract

Unlike Adorno, who maintained that technology reduced mass culture to a tool for the ideological propaganda of ruling class, Benjamin, also a member of the Frankfurt School, emphasized the role of mechanical reproduction in breaking the elite culture's monopoly and promoting cultural democratization in the era of technological revolution and the rise of mass culture. His view of mass culture demonstrates the tension of his thought in the opposition to Adorno's. Adorno regarded mass culture as "Culture Industry," criticizing Benjamin for ignoring the dissolution of the revolutionary nature of the masses under the collusion of technological standardization and capitalism. Consequently, Benjamin was labeled as a staunch supporter of technology. This paper attempts to explore the real theoretical purpose of Benjamin from this identity label: Taking the technology of reproduction as the entry point, Benjamin attempts to clarify his unique thought on mass culture. He believes that artistic production and material production share a structural homology, and the masses, as the main agents of artistic production, are potential revolutionary subjects. And there is a new hope for the masses to realize self-transformation and political liberation in the path of art politicization.

Keywords

Benjamin; Mass Culture; Technology; Adorno

References

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