Neoliberalism and Adorno

Charles Prusik

Chapter 34 in Research Handbook on Critical Theory, 2026, pp 390-402 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This chapter investigates T.W. Adorno's critical theory in terms of its applicability for grasping neoliberal capitalism. Drawing on his theory of mediation, the chapter explores the concepts of commodity exchange, class antagonism, economic theory, and the culture industry to understand the emergence of neoliberalism as a socially constituted form. Rather than separating neoliberalism from previous phases in the history of capitalism, Adorno's critical theory urges us to grasp the underlying continuity of capitalist domination in its modified forms of appearance. By analyzing his political economic critique of class, exploitation, and positivist social science, Adorno's thought can illuminate neoliberal economic policies as reactions to the crises of the Keynesian-Fordist period of state capitalism. Through Adorno's negative dialectical critique of political economic categories, neoliberalism can be understood as a false naturalization of social relations.

Keywords: Adorno; Neoliberalism; Mediation; Class; Real Abstraction; Economics; Culture Industry (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781800373754
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