“Conforming to real life”: on the meaning(s) of the concept of education in Adorno

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to consider the core around which Theodor W. Adorno’s “critical theory of education” is developed, namely, the concept of Bildung. Adorno insists on the connection between this and culture, which becomes effective when Bildung is expressed in its inevitably contradictory character in relation to the established order, and not in its affirmative character, i.e., in the individual’s conformity to the dominant social logic. Adorno’s critique of the culture industry finds its subjective correlate in semi-formation (Halbbildung). This is not an incomplete education, but a deliberate process of intellectual deformation, which molds individuals incapable of critical thinking and authentic experiences. By offering a standardized and fragmented world, the culture industry alienates individuals from themselves and from others, promoting an empty hedonism and an incessant search for recognition within a self-referential universe. Only an education that rescues the value of individual experience and fosters critical reflection can counter this logic of domination and offer an emancipatory alternative.