Elitist snobs?

[Paul Nightingale]

Trying to make a point quickly does often lead to over-simplification.
Certainly the Frankfurt School was suspicious of the way the mass media were
used for propaganda purposes. However, I think there are many places (I'll
quote if anyone wants to continue with this) where the argument is
undermined by a distaste for popular culture as such (rather than the way
cultural production was manipulated). It isn't just the case that high
cultural products are 'better'; there are also the assumptions being made
about a passive, impressionable, easily-led mass (ie working-class)
audience. In part it's the old 'false consciousness' argument that is no
longer quite so fashionable. Since I criticised early Williams last time (eg
The Long Revolution) I'll now praise a later work, "Base and
Superstructure".