November 13, 1998

Questioning Scholars' Torrid Romance With Popular Culture

By TANIA MODLESKI

Not so long ago, popular culture was disdained by most intellectuals, including Marxists. T.W. Adorno and other members of the Frankfurt school -- philosophers and cultural critics who emigrated to America from Nazi Germany -- claimed that popular art had become standardized and was manipulating consumers into a false contentment with the political, economic, and social status quo. By contrast, high art was thought

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