Adorno & Horkeimer's Theory

The Culture Industry
The culture industry is the way Adorno and Horkheimer ' argue which items are produced and how they can be compared to other industries manufactured vast quantities of consumer goods. This means that  the culture industry is always made up of the same things and a pattern can be seen between how some items are produced compared to other items within the culture industry. Adorno and Horkheimer also argued that the culture industry showed an 'assembly-line character' which could be observed in the synthetic, planned method of turning out its product. Adorno and Horkheimer's are trying to say that the the industry don't promote artist's because of their talent, but they promote the artists which they can make most money out of even if they haven't got as good as a voice as another person. 

The X-Factor Machine 
Adorno and Horkeimer linked the 'culture industry' theory to a type of 'mass culture' in which cultural production had become a routine and made the audience expect nothing more but pop artists as it is what they became used to. This makes it a lot easier to meet an audiences expectations and therefore sells more records and the artist to its full extent. Standardisation is a repetitive operation that produced undemanding cultural commodities which in turn resulted in a type of consumption that was also standardised, distracted and passive. 

The X-Factor
Adorno and Horkheimer argued that the 'culture industry' operated in the same way as other producing industries. All the work and publicity had become formalised and products were made according to rationalised organisational procedures that were established for the sole purpose of making money.Adorno and Horkheimer is arguing that everything is extended and dragged out to having a duration as long as possible in order to gain a lot more money from the audience as it remains in the public eye for a longer time. An example of this is X factor as their series consists of many stages such as auditions, boot camp, judges houses, live shows, semi final, celebrity duets and then the final.

Standardisation
Adorno and Horkheimer argued that all products produced by the culture industry exhibited standardised features. The argument here is that there is nothing special or different about the process of cultural production. It has become a recognisable operation that can be carried out in an office by the application of specific formulae. Adorno noted that songs which became successful over time were often referred to as 'standards', a category that clearly drew attention to their formulaic character. From the 'plan' to the details, songs were based around repetitive sequences and frequently recurring refrains. This strategy has been done for the sole purpose that the song would imprint itself on the mind of the listener and then provoke a purchase. For Adorno, the production of bit songs had become a mechanical and manipulative operation motivated purely by commercial gain. Think about the popular songs that you might hear throughout an average day (radio, shopping, television, club or bar). Are songs becoming too predictable? are they becoming standardised. This is stating that we have to look for different/alternative songs as the only songs played buy the media and advertised are the the typical ones and doesn't sound like a different song that you've already heard.

Pseudo Individuality (false Individuality)
Adorno and Horkheimer were also critical of what they referred to as pseudo individuality. By this they meant the way that the culture industry assembled products that made claims to 'originality' but which when examined more critically exhibited little more than superficial differences. Adorno and Horkheimer evoked the image of the lock and key, an item that is mass produced in millions, whose uniqueness lies in only very minor modifications. What Adorno and Horkheimer are trying to state is that the X factor winners are all the same and have very minimal differences or any unique style.

Conclusion
Adorno and Horkheimer believe that the culture industry allows people to become 'masses' and be easily manipulated by capitalist corporations and authoritarian governments. Adorno and Horkheimer thus present us with a powerful arguement about what happens to culture when it is subect to the structural control and organisation of industrial capitalist production, it becomes merely a standardised, formulaic and repetitive element of 'mass culture'. It has no aesthetic value whatsoever and leads to a very specific type of consumption that is passive, obedient and easily manipulated for the purpose propaganda or advertising.