Adorno and Democracy in America: Countertendencies and Democratic Enlightenment

Abstract

In 1958 Adorno published an essay, composed in English, titled "Democratic Leadership and Mass Manipulation" in an American volume on leadership. Consistent with his other writings, he asserts that mass society, authoritarian tendencies, manipulative propaganda, psychological exploitation, and the culture industry undermine meaningful democracy in the U.S. But this essay also contains novel and unique assertions made in a less typical register: he outlines specific countervailing productive strategies to help create "self-determining subjects" and articulates a desire to communicate these ideas "on a large scale." Adorno (ironically?) titles this final section of his essay "Operation Boomerang," but it is essentially an outline of the practice of negative dialectics aimed toward strengthening American democracy. Here, he criticizes those who "overlook" the "mass potential of autonomy and spontaneity" still "very much alive" and describes how "psychological exploitation, if unveiled, will turn into a boomerang," swinging back in reverse direction against oppression. He argues that "strong countertendencies" against the "all-pervasive patterns of our cultural climate" exist, saying we must "lean on" them, draw out their nonidentical, contradictory energies, and throw them back against existing mass society to work toward "democratic enlightenment." He advocates studying the pathological tendencies of American culture, to "derive" "vaccines against antidemocratic indoctrination." I show how this short essay can be seen as a map, in microcosmic form, outlining the nascent strategies Adorno begins to develop in other studies of American culture also composed in English, such as Current of Music, The Psychological Technique of Martin Luther Thomas' Radio Addresses, and Stars Down to Earth. I analyze these writings with his "boomerang" strategy in mind to reframe the conventional image of Adorno, more accurately representing his novel theory of democracy and his concern with democratic practice while also helping us better appreciate the political significance of his engagements with American culture.