Adorno’s critical theory uses Hegelian dialectics, analyzing how Enlightenment reverts to barbarism and myth. His aesthetics connect true art to pleasure and the desire for happiness, opposing Kantian ideals. Critiquing reification and subjectivity, Adorno focused extensively on modern authoritarian irrationalism. He analyzed how mass media, like astrology and occultism, alongside fascist propaganda, reinforce psychological dependency, conformity, and ego weakness in advanced capitalism.
