Theodor Adorno's Bio
All the deets on your favorite critic's personal life.
Basic Information
| Name | Theodor W. Adorno |
| Nickname | The culture industry dubbed me the German Curmudgeon, but my friends call me the Dialectical Dude. Each suits me and doesn't suit me. |
| Sex | Male |
| Home town | Frankfurt am Main. Born there; raised there; returned there after the Nazis got whooped. |
Work & Education
| Occupation | Philosopher, Social Critic, Sociologist, Musicologist, and Gadfly to the Culture Industry |
| Education | I went to Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt and did some intense study of philosophy, sociology, psychology, and music composition. I wrote my dissertation on Kierkegaard; my advisor was Paul Tillich, a famous existentialist philosopher and theologian. |
Beliefs
| Political views | I'm totally critical of authoritarian personalities and political structures. I'm influenced by Marx, but I'm not really a Marxist; the guy put way too much emphasis on economics as the source of all our problems. I think there's more to the picture than just economics. |
| Religious views | My father was a Jew (who converted to Protestantism), and my mother was Catholic. (That was enough for the Nazis to consider me Jewish and to expel me from Germany.) I'm interested in religion, but I'm not exactly religious. I'm more into talking about ethics and morality in general. |
Activities & Interests
| Likes | Modern Art Paradoxes Curmudgeons on Twitter Criticizing endlessly |
| Dislikes | What the masses like Mass Media Spotify and iTunes Sameness Authoritarian personalities Jazz Science Fiction |
| Interests | Dialectics Marxism Music Causing a scene Glaring at your mediocrity |
| Groups | Critical Theorists The Frankfurt School The Frankfurt Fans of Modern Art Snobs "R" Us |