CONTRADICTION, CRITIQUE, AND DIALECTIC IN ADORNO A ...

The principle of exchange is such that its determining power necessarily takes
place “behind the back of consciousness.” Though the principle of exchange is operative
in individual acts of social and historical significance, it is ordinarily not self-consciously
apprehended as so operative by individuals. In fact, it is part of the essence of the
principle that it operates only un-self-consciously, for, as will become clear below, its
success depends in part on its remaining behind the veil of self-conscious understanding.
Rule by the principle of exchange operates specifically through ideological
distortion. And ideological distortion exploits what we might call a logic of opposites.
Individuals further the aims of the principle of exchange through the illusion that they are
furthering ends that are in fact opposite to the brute ends of the market. Individuals
would generally cite as the motivations for their actions things like the desire for
happiness or freedom, or their devotion to love and family. Yet, if Adorno is right, the
deep logic of their actions is almost always intelligible as determined by the logic of
exchange. The same holds for the actions of states. The latter may cite humanitarian
reasons, or the goal to democratize the world and to expand human rights and freedom as
reasons for military intervention, yet these actions are not fully understandable without an
analysis that discloses them as determined by the logic of exchange.
The point can also be seen in terms of the role of key concepts in social life. For
Adorno, the concepts central to modern society’s self-understanding are usually concepts
that conceal the true nature of the social order and play an ideological role in the
maintenance of that order. Take, for instance, the concept of individual freedom, which
plays a pivotal role in the self-understanding of modern Western societies. This concept
functions in self-consciousness by cultivating the belief that modern individuals follow
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