Тhis article is an attempt at a contemporary reading of Theodor W. Adorno’s publications from 1946 and 1951 on propaganda, based on S. Freud’s classic essay on the psychology of the masses from 1922. It reviews Adorno’s use of the term „propaganda“ in various contexts, which corresponds to the increased interest in the topic in a variety of theoretical traditions and political practices before, during, and immediately after World War II. It then draws out highlights from the application of psychoanalysis to the social psyche, which were absorbed by the Frankfurt School and used – especially by Adorno – to revise both the basic categories of Marxism and its trust in the class consciousness of the proletariat as the subject and engine of historical emancipation.
Stilian Yotov (Wed,) studied this question.