WORKSHEET 5: THE FRANKFURT SCHOOL AND THE CULTURE INDUSTRY

Pair Activity

A. Read Dominic Strinatis’ An Introduction to Theories of Popular Culture, pp.46-55. After

reading, answer the questions below. You may read/cite other references for your answer. If
you use other references, give credit to the source. DO NOT PLAGIARIZE. (Due date: April 27,
11:59PM)

1. What is Frankfurt School? What did the Frankfurt School believe?

The Frankfurt School or the Frankfurt Institute for Social Research develops
theories and researches that seek to critique the modern capitalist hypothetically as well
as the ideologies. It was established in 1923 by German and Jewish scholars. Frankfurt
Institute for Social Research believes in the quest for the stability of social theories and
ideologies. Adorno's Critique of Enlightenment asks how rational progress and modern
sciences assures to free the people's ignorance and promises human freedom. Thus,
incorporating the culture industry where industries use pop culture to impose capitalism,
which is believed to have a negative effect on society as expressed by Adorn.

2. Explain Marx’s theory of commodity fetishism in your own words. Cite example as
observed in the Philippine setting.

Marx's Theory of Commodity Fetishism based on my understanding is that there

is a relationship between man's labor and the products they produce. A great way to
explain this is how much product can their labor produce, for example, a baker who
bakes a cake, his baking is the labor, and the product is the cake. Since there is a
relationship as soon as the products of their labor turn into commodities, fetishism is
attached.
An example of this in the Philippine setting is that abacas being weaved into
cloths. Abacas is the material used, weaving is the labor made, and the cloth is the
product of this; therefore, it has a use-value. Use value is the value of a thing based on
its usefulness. When this cloth becomes a commodity when it goes to market, fetishism
is attached, and the exchange value is added. The exchange value is the price you pay
to in order to get something.

3. Elaborate the following statement through an example: Exchange value will always
dominate use value in capitalism because the production, marketing and consumption of
commodities will always take precedence over people’s real needs. 

Marx emphasizes that money has overcome its potential to buy where people buy more
than what they need, and thereupon markets grow to sell more products with the use of
marketing. Consumers have deemed to consume more with the purchasing power that
they possess, which deals with those who are unable to even out those who can buy.
People tend to buy less than the value of the products they bought because its use-
value is impractical. The monetary value has hidden the true equivalent between
exchange.
 
An example of this would be online selling platforms that have overruled some of the
local markets we have. People tend to buy products that are discounted even, so it is
 not needed and, in return, being scammed. There are a lot of products which are
presented very well but have low quality in reality. People hid the true value of every
product that they own, for example, a TV selling for only 20,000 pesos and marketed to
25,000 pesos. The vendor then offers a 20% discount, which then returns to its original
price. Furthermore, the risk is at stake as many don’t even get to claim their bought
items. Delivery fees have also been abused, and the risk that deliveries will cushion our
bought items.

4. Explain the Frankfurt School’s theory of modern capitalism. Cite an example as

observed in the Philippine setting.

5. Why are people not free in capitalistic societies?

In capitalistic societies, private owners control the factors of production. People

tend to buy the things they do not need. Capitalistic societies redirect people's
attention to what they desire than what is in demand. The consumers are blinded
by companies that play with their products against their competitors to create a
monopoly. Not only that, but exchange value hides the truth behind every
exchange, which is labor. Labor is to value, The lesser the labor, the lesser its
value. Since the private owners control the production, they also own labor from
their laborers. Moreover, laborers don't get what they deserve as big companies
take advantage of what they work on. Therefore, people are not free in a
capitalistic society because they are unable to see in a transparent lens where
their hard-earned money has come up to.

B. Make a Powerpoint Presentation with the following topics below. Save your presentation with
a File Name: The Frankfurt School and the Culture Industry (Part 1). Upload it in the shared
folder assigned to you. (Due date: April 28, 11:30AM)

1. The origins of Frankfurt School

2. The theory of commodity fetishism

3. The Frankfurt’s theory of modern capitalism

C. Consider the following guidelines on the general format in making your PPt presentation
(Alejandro et al., 2018).

1. Keep the slides simple, plain and eye-friendly.

2. Use colors contrastively. A dark background requires a very light-colored text or alight-
colored background with a dark-colored text.
3.Use the same format for all the slides for consistency.

4. Use phrases or bulleted lists instead of long sentences or paragraphs.

5. Present tables, graphs, and figures simply.

D. Take a screenshot of your conversation or a photo of your virtual meeting as a proof of

discussion and attendance. Save the screenshot/photo with the File Name: WS5_(Date) and
upload it in the shared folder named after your last names.

Submitted by: Christ Joshua Culaba

Bibliography

Grant, B. (n.d.). Barneygrant. Retrieved from Culture Identity:

http://barneygrant.tripod.com/cultureindustry.htm

Zuidervaart, L. (2015, October 15). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/adorno/

Felluga, Dino.( 2011,January 11). "Modules on Marx: On Fetishism." Introductory Guide to Critical
Theory.. Purdue U. <http://www.purdue.edu/guidetotheory/marxism/modules/marxfetishism.html>.