Kulturkritik des Web 2.0

With Web 2.0 and Social Media, cultural production becomes easier, but not freer. On the basis of culture industry theory by critical theorists Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno, Christian Raupach’s “Kulturkritik des Web 2.0” argues that cultural production is still dominated by commodity form and manipulated needs. Thus, the emancipatory propositions of Web 2.0 are unfounded, as deficits of consciousness for culture-industrial manipulations are not abolished by changes in media technologies. At the same time, the “Kulturkritik” shows where and how opposition against culture industry emanates right from within cultural products on the Web 2.0. It uses examples to illustrate that instances of freedom can be found within culture-industrial products, because culture-industrial manipulation is never total.
Christian Raupach is a research associate at Ostfalia University in Salzgitter/Germany. He researches and teaches on topics connected to critical communication and media research.