As Estrelas Descem a Terra

by Theodor W. Adorno

As estrelas descem à Terra é um texto sui generis no conjunto da obra de Theodor W. Adorno: por um lado, tem uma conexão direta com o núcleo duro do pensamento do filósofo, já que aborda temas como a interpenetração entre o racional e o irracional, o processo de dominação característico do capitalismo tardio, a cultura de massas etc. Por outro, trata-se de uma obra em que as idéias propriamente filosóficas de Adorno não ressaltam tão claramente como em outros de seus livros mais conhecidos. No que concerne ao background filosófico de As estrelas descem à Terra, a vinculação mais evidente é mesmo com a Dialética do esclarecimento, obra em que Horkheimer e Adorno apontam para o fato de que o esclarecimento, longe de se limitar a um movimento intelectual europeu do século XVIII, o Iluminismo, tem suas raízes muito mais profundas na civilização ocidental, remontando à astúcia de Ulisses na epopéia homérica, no sentido de se valer de todos os meios que lhe eram disponíveis para alcançar o fim de retornar à ilha de Ítaca, onde, na qualidade de rei, era senhor de terras e rebanhos. Com isso querem os autores dizer que, adjacente a todo modelo de racionalidade que erige em fim último não a felicidade, mas objetos que, na verdade, seriam apenas meios de autoconservação da vida humana, reside uma indelével sombra da mais crassa irracionalidade.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Essays, Theory, Politics, Sociology, Criticism

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1975

About the author

Theodor Wiesengrund Adorno was one of the most important philosophers and social critics in Germany after World War II. Although less well known among anglophone philosophers than his contemporary Hans-Georg Gadamer, Adorno had even greater influence on scholars and intellectuals in postwar Germany. In the 1960s he was the most prominent challenger to both Sir Karl Popper's philosophy of science and Martin Heidegger's philosophy of existence. Jürgen Habermas, Germany's foremost social philosopher after 1970, was Adorno's student and assistant. The scope of Adorno's influence stems from the interdisciplinary character of his research and of the Frankfurt School to which he belonged. It also stems from the thoroughness with which he examined Western philosophical traditions, especially from Kant onward, and the radicalness to his critique of contemporary Western society. He was a seminal social philosopher and a leading member of the first generation of Critical Theory.

Unreliable translations hampered the initial reception of Adorno's published work in English speaking countries. Since the 1990s, however, better translations have appeared, along with newly translated lectures and other posthumous works that are still being published. These materials not only facilitate an emerging assessment of his work in epistemology and ethics but also strengthen an already advanced reception of his work in aesthetics and cultural theory.

Reviews

[Flaubertscarrot · Rating 4 out of 5]

brb deleting co-star

[Kostas Hitchens Pap · Rating 5 out of 5]

Η αστρολογία των "προφητων " Της εξαπάτησης είναι ένα μικρό μοντέλο μέσα σε μια ευρύτερη κοινωνική τροφοδότηση παρανοικων προδιαθεσεων

Εξαιρετική μελέτη, ότι καλυτερο έχω διαβάσει σε ψυχολογική προσεγγιση αυτής της απάτης που λέγεται αστρολογία.

[Antônio Xerxenesky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Releitura. Segue um excelente trabalho crítico, na fusão que só Adorno sabia fazer entre marxismo, sociologia e psicanálise para interpretar a cultura de massas. Dá para ver que boa parte da crítica cultural de hoje é possível graças a esse livro/modo crítico.

[tout · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't finish this book, I just couldn't do it anymore. But nonetheless it deserves a "review" or a few brief reflections so other people can avoid it. I hadn't ever read anything by Adorno before, only hearing him talked about and quoted by others. Why exactly people read him over others makes little sense to me. Somehow he has a reputation for being important, and his name evokes a kind of status to me, seemingly essential for the identity of one who reads theory. I find myself increasingly repulsed by a lot of his ideas. One in particular that runs fundamentally through this collection of texts and the title text of the book is that irrationalism is an inherent part of fascism, and given he attempts to make a logical argument that all things he deems irrational are also authoritarian. What is essentially liberal in his ideas is that there is a universal rationality somehow outside of the force relations which give things their meaning. This is the same mythology of science that wields power by presenting itself as essentially neutral, as outside of power. To think this is such an enormous stupidity that I couldn't do it. Also there's Adorno's Fruedianism... He wants to foster a brutal and detached approach to critique the world, but this approach of disengagement, of a lack of commitment, which he is also known for (calling the cops on students during an occupation), is much more a part of this world than opposed to it. Please leave this man behind, he has so little to offer us now.

[Pedro Rumor Podcast]

Embora a Escola de Frankfurt seja conhecida por seu marxismo, chama a atenção nesse livro a influência de Weber (que é textualmente citado em vários momentos). Primeiro: há mais "afinidade eletiva" que "condicionamento", ou seja, mais duas tendências se entrelaçando do que uma constrangendo outra. Segundo: é um estudo sobre o que nos impele à ação. Mas enquanto Weber traça uma teleologia do racionalismo, Adorno mostra como o impulso à ação racional parte de uma matéria prima irracional. Acho que daria um bom artigo uma comparação entre a astrologia do Adorno e o calvinismo do Weber. Dois sistemas diferentes que no fim passam a mesma mensagem: aja!
Mas, enfim, esse é só um comentário. O livro não é sobre isso. Eu não vou escrever esse artigo e ele provavelmente já deve existir. Não vou dar nenhuma estrela porque isso seria contradizer o argumento do livro.

[Celluloid Doll · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perhaps this is a trite observation but Adorno feels like one of the few social theorists you can describe as "Beast-Mode" just for the clear contempt and derision he held for much of the culture he was critiquing. He calls people who read astrology columns hobgoblins at one point which is great. I probably would have enjoyed this more if I didn't read this over a single sitting in a hot car but hey dissertation grind baby. There's also a great bit where he starts talking about the social ills that face women despite their supposed emmancipation and then goes "but they also be shopping". I do think his freudianism might be a little too literal for me, I'm far more kind on that particular 20th century outlook than but I do think it's best when considered as pyscological structures induced by societal conditioning rather than the inherent and indisputible aspect of an individual's being. Other than that I do think it cuts to the heart of the compounding layers of irrationality in a capitalist system causing a recurrance of both authoritatian and superstitious belief. There's a great bit about the semi-erudite in which he describes occultism as essentially a shortcut to greater meaning without any of the intellectual heavy lifting which reminded me rather strikingly of the whole Peter Thiel camp of tech-bro-cum-theosophists who've clearly subsituted any coherent worldview based on rigirious analysis with like the aesthetic of kabbala infused technology.

[g · Rating 3 out of 5]

ideology for dependence:

this is adorno's critique of ideology via an analysis of astrology columns in US newspapers, mainly Los Angeles Times. here, adorno studies the columns as mediators of a society that seeks recognition, mediation, and organization through zodiac signs. zodiac signs propagate a dichotomous life style where worktime, playtime and familytime are set apart from each other, which brings forth a temporal control of the individual. it is not only temporal control, but also provision of personalities, where only certain stereotypes are allowed; not much space to be different from all the other geminis. simultaneously, society would like to be dependent on a transcendent level of control that takes away some of its agencies, and as such, stars become particularly useful. through astrology the world almost transforms into a more ordered, more calculable system, where the pronounced links do not leave any way out for alternative interpretations.

i enjoy adorno's gloomy writing in general, and find his approach to be very fruitful. but one straightforward critique of this particular text, and the others within this volume, is the binary of irrational/rational that it reproduces. these neat divisions are too perfect to explain how people approach ideology.

[Larry Ggggggggggggggggggggggggg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just a guy really vehemently pointing out that ‘enlightened modernity’ was a lie. Check it out

[Lilith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly pretty good! But I get the sense this man dislikes a lot of things and could trace anything back to being a prerequisite for totalitarianism so -2 stars.

[Foley Stocks]

Crook’s introduction is clear and does well to paint a picture of positions on fascism and anti-Semitism that Adorno commits himself to, and the other essays collected here provide good supplementary resources for understanding these motifs. Evidently the main subject, though, is his essay on astrology.
As per much of Adorno’s work, a central concept behind “The Stars Down to Earth” is authoritarianism. The type that casually subsists in the irrational strands of mass culture. It is the case put forth that astrology is part of such a culture and promotes the subject’s relinquishment of power to an abstract authority. While it’s easy to suggest that Adorno is looking down his nose when he speaks of “mass culture,” really he is most critical of the preconditions that allow such a category as the “masses” to exist in the first place.
Such criticisms later become a primary theme of Negative Dialectics, here they are in a form attuned to that of popular, culture industry goods. Astrology provides a “desperate short-cut” from a drab commodity society in which qualities only exist for quantitative (exchangeable) purposes. And yet it enhances conformity. Work as facilitating life increasingly takes over life itself (“Pleasure thus becomes the award of work, work the atonement for pleasure”), such that leisure becomes hollowed out - prefabricated, pre-digested, “this is my allotted free time.” A part of a whole, rationalised process - a routine that is in itself subservient to matters of work; astrology adheres to precisely this. In fact, its “constant appeal [is] to find fault with oneself rather than with given conditions”.
Further, it reifies nature and places the reader as even more helpless to nature than they truly are - in the name of “disillusionment”. This ‘nature’ - the cosmic objects - is the abstract all-encompassing authority. Such a dominating concept of nature (as projected by man) is reminiscent of the ideas in Dialectic of Enlightenment - but here, in astrology, the front-facing irrationalism is renounced with consistent referral to science, to “experts” that take on a ‘magical’ sense in themselves.
Thus the irrational can be packaged and sold: masked as anything defensible, it nonetheless reaffirms its own baselessness in its obsequience to a science that is in itself also a reified concept; the former can be enjoyed, lightly (paradoxically, given the advice often concerns matters of finance, family, etc., which aren’t exactly unserious), and the latter can be leaned upon, as a given, solid entity.
Hence Adorno asserts that the choice in favour of astrology is a symptom of “expanding semi-erudition.” Or, these “intellectual short-cuts” - in the present day we know of the person that fancies himself ‘intelligent’ and maybe even an ‘intellectual’, but goes no further than watching internet videos about popular philosophers; the information is certainly fractured, but facts are arranged in a purely formal, though enticing, manner whereby the classifications seem internally coherent, yet the system itself is entirely arbitrary. Suddenly we have an illustration that seems analogous to astrology.
A potential weakness is his commitment to Freudianism - not to say we should immediately presume Freud’s name as a weakness wherever we see it, but that the presence of it doesn’t seem to particularly aid the argument set out. In the latter half of the conclusion, Adorno does implicitly defend this usage with reference to structural features of culture that can be analysed psychoanalytically and thus helps us understand the psychological pattern of a society; but his explanation doesn’t necessitate the Freudianism in itself as opposed to other modes of analysis (which Crook elaborates on in his introduction). Hence it often has the impression of being added on, an imposition, etc., which is not usually characteristic of Adorno’s terse style.

[Drew · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has an excellent introduction by Stephen Crook, which was an entire essay in its own right, that does a great job of situating Adorno's thought found in both its strengths and weaknesses. One of the big weaknesses of Adorno's writing in this is taking text and creating an imagined reader's response to it upon which to project his ideas. I thought his first essay The Stars Down to Earth and the final work Anti-Semitism and Fascist Propaganda were quite interesting and worth the read even though sometimes dated or have some ideas that were easily open to being challenged. The middle works were mostly forgettable for me.

[James Hogg · Rating 4 out of 5]

As with most Adorno, the subject under investigation (astrology) = mass culture = totalitarianism. B+.

[Marc]

Three essays on irrational thought in modern culture, in the context of astrology, occultism, and anti-Semitism. Adorno's thesis is essentially that our modern capitalist/consumerist society creates weak, dependent personality types that are easily seduced by irrational worldviews that seem to provide easy, all-encompassing answers to life's problems. He warns us that fascist states such as Nazi Germany should not be considered an aberration in the modern age, a throw-back to barbarous pre-enlightment ideas, but rather a cautionary example of this trend towards irrationality in modern culture.

The essays were written between the late 30's and mid-50's, and feel a little dated at times by frequent reference to Freudian concepts of the unconscious that have since fallen out of favor. More interesting is his analysis of Nazi propaganda in the U.S. and Germany, which provides a lot of food for thought: for example, his assertion that it is precisely the ridiculousness of fascist leaders (e.g., Hitler) that people found so attractive about them.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is easy to find yourself drifting off in Adorno's uniquely dense German prose. His prose is the kind that has been caricatured as that of a pretentious German intellectual who writes three page long paragraphs for no other reason than to bother his reader. Butler has already commented on this years ago, saying that yes, this is the point: if text were easy to read, how can we expect to change and grow? Or as Adorno might put it: otherwise, how else can we escape from the philistine 'authoritarian personality' who expects their own life to be organized by anybody but themselves, simply because it is easier?

The Stars Down to Earth is a long essay written during Adorno's tenure in America. I presume he was working with American sociologists in some capacity for this project, the same who aided him with the quantitative study of the authoritarian personality. Though Adorno writes with the "we" pronoun, the work is obviously uniquely his own, though there must be others involved somehow. I imagine he reduced long tenured American academics into glorified research assistants whose task was primarily to clip newspaper articles from the LA Times, a testament to his character and reputation. The authoritarian personality research project was a test devised by Adorno that was administered to Americans through, I believe, sociology departments in California. Adorno, himself escaping Nazi Germany, but a first-hand witness to the violence of fascism, quickly noted that the tendency to support authoritarian leaders was not uniquely based around qualities of the German people, the Nazi party, or the rhetorical abilities of Hitler. Instead, would-be authoritarians were everywhere because they have been conditioned into this personality because of their own capitalist society. The authoritarian test asked its participants questions that interrogated ones belief in, say, rising sexual 'deviancy'. The respondents who agreed that sexual deviancy was a problem were correlated with responses such as those that implied that people aren't to be trusted and should be governed with an iron fist, and so on. Maybe this seems obvious today, but immediately after the war, the idea that fascism was everywhere was revolutionary. Today this test is easily accessible, and I recommend you take a look!

Adorno hypothesized that the same Americans who were would-be authoritarians were those who read the astrology column in the newspaper. He writes something to connect the two in the conclusion, but it is unclear if his method uses qualitative statistics or if he just kind of says that it is so. Nonetheless, this the context of this essay. Hundreds of excerpts from the astrology column are clipped and sorted into subsections to make an argument about a pervasive theme throughout the column. In sum, all of these recurring tropes are specifically successful because they explicitly denounce their reader as the little person who they secretly wish to be, who is at the whims of the materially powerful people in their lives, like their boss at work. The column suggests that individuals should be docile with those in power, because they are wise and gentle, even if every action they take suggests the opposite. Furthermore, all relations with people are commodified by the column in that they are only a means to an end who may be useful for entrepreneurial ideas or their ability to instill personal efficiencies out of oneself. The lesser theme which underlies everything in the column is that of rationalizing occultism. Essentially: since we (astrology readers) can look to the mystic to solve every day situations and guide our lives, we can therefore also look to every day situations to understand the mystic, because we agree that the two are interdependent, therefore there is material basis to the mystic. Thus, sound argument may not be so sound if unsupported by the occult forces in a newspaper. This reminds me of the driveling conspiracy theorists of today who create a parasocial dependency in their listener by reminding them that other people don't understand how wise their belief in conspiracies actually is.

The introduction by Stephen Crook tries to convince its late-20th century reader that Adorno, for all his Freudian faults, is still worth reading. Well, in the era where the public sphere is decimated by a totally subsuming corporate media, the authoritarian personality is rampant, our reliance on the soothing culture industry is demonstrably increasing, and literacy rates are declining, Adorno's culture industry analytic in tandem with his challenging vocabulary provides a sure remedy.

Page 154: "For, while people recognize their dependence and often venture the opinion that they are mere pawns, it is extremely difficult for them to face this dependence unmitigated. Society is made of those whom it comprises. If the latter would fully admit their dependence on man-made conditions, they would somehow have to blame themselves, would have to recognize not only their impotence but also that they are the cause of this impotence and would have to take responsibilities which today are extremely hard to take. This may be one of the reasons why they like so much to project their dependence upon something else, be it a conspiracy of Wall Street bankers or the constellation of the stars."

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

Grumpy ol' Adorno is banished to Southern Cal and writes about astrology columns.

Also some articles on antisemitism which presage Dialectic of Enlightenment.

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Occult, irrational, astrology, antisemitism, fascism, and how these artifacts are still prevalent in our society.

[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE “FRANKFURT SCHOOL” PHILOSOPHER CRITICIZES ASTROLOGY, AND LOOKS AT OTHER SUBJECTS

Theodor W. Adorno (1903–1969) was a German sociologist, philosopher and musicologist who was also a leading member of the Frankfurt School.

The Editor’s Introduction to this posthumously-published book states, “This volume brings together four texts written by Theodor Adorno between the late 1930s and the mid-1950s. The longest, ‘The Stars Down to Earth’ is for the most part a content analysis of an astrology column in the Los Angeles Times which Adorno wrote in 1952-3 during a return visit to the United States from Germany… The title of the final piece, ‘Anti-Semitism and Fascist Propaganda’ explains its topic clearly enough. Published in 1946, the paper draws extensively on a much longer study which Adorno had written in 1943, but which was not published in his lifetime.” (Pg. 1)

In the essay on astrology, he says, “It pretends to a higher level of scientificness than the supposedly more primitive forms of esoteric wisdom without, however, entering into the argument itself: the lack of a transparent interconnection between astronomical observations and inferences pertaining to the fate of individuals or nations… Astrology attempts to get away from crude and unpopular fatalism by establishing outward forces operating on the individual’s decision, including the individual’s own character, but leaves the ultimate choice to him…

"Astrology undertakes the constant encouragement of people to take decisions, no matter how inconsequential they may be. It is practically directed towards action in spite of all the lofty talk about cosmic secrets and profound meditation. Thus, the very gesture of astrology, its basic presumption that everyone has to make up his mind at every moment falls in line with what will later come out with respect to the specific content of astrological counseling: its leaning towards extroversion.” (Pg. 44)

Later, he adds, “the column tends to reinforce guilt feelings, compulsive patterns and various other unconscious motivations instead of working against them. It tends to make the socially dependent even more dependent psychologically.” (Pg. 105) He asserts, “astrology mirrors exactly the opaqueness of the empirical world and implies so little transcendent faith, is so opaque itself that it can be easily accepted by supposedly skeptical, disillusioned people. The intellectual attitude it is expressive of is one of disoriented agnosticism. The cult of God has been replaced by the cult of facts, just as the fatal entities of astrology, the stars, are themselves viewed as facts, things, ruled by mechanical laws. One could not grasp the specificity of astrology and of the whole frame of mind it stands for if one would simply call it a reversion to older states of metaphysics: what it is characteristic of is the transfiguration of a world of things into quasi-metaphysical powers.” (Pg. 116)

He observes, “During the so-called enlightened era of the last 200 years, no stratum of the population has been free from anti-Semitism.” (Pg. 142)

After quoting Fr. Charles Coughlin, he comments, “The transformation of Christian doctrine into slogans of political violence could not be cruder than in this passage… The actual shedding of blood is advocated as necessary because the world has supposedly been redeemed by the shedding of Christ’s blood. Murder is invested with the halo of a sacrament… Psychologically, all fascist propaganda is simply a system of such symbols.” (Pg. 170)

This is clearly not one of Adorno’s “major works”; but he comments on subjects that he does not treat elsewhere in his better-known works.

[Gary Reger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Theodor Adorno had lived in the United States in exile during World War II, most of the time as part of the German exile colony in Los Angeles. (For the history of this colony of writers and musicians, see Thomas Blubacher, Weimar under the Palms. Pacific Palisades, German Exiles, and the Invention of Hollywood, tr. Elisabeth Lauffer. Walthem: Brandeis University Press, 2025, and Johannes Evelein, Literary Exiles from Nazi Germany. Rochester: Camden House, 2014.) He returned in 1952-1953, and used his time in LA to read assiduously and analyze the LA Times's astrology column, by Carroll Righter.

At the same time, Adorno and collaborators were working on a project on the authoritarian personality, a project whose results were published at about the same time in a book bearing the same phrase as title. Adorno saw some tight connections between the features of authoritarian personalities and those of people who followed Righter's astrology column. He identified three fundamental personality characteristics that, he argued, found reflection and satisfaction in astrology: narcissism, anxiety, and dependence (pp. 53-54). The vague predictions and advice in Richter's column fed on these characteristics and explained why some people follow astrology, even though it makes no sense at all. They also featured in authoritarian personalities; as a result, Adorno's views about astrology were not just dismissal and contempt for a silly mental affliction, but rather a warning of the presence of plenty of people whose astrological silliness could also support a turn in the US toward authoritarianism.

A big fault in The Stars Down to Earth is Adorno's failure to conduct any empirical research. He did not reach out to readers of the column, or make any effort to undertake survey research. This lapse really undermines his conclusions, for they are drawn entirely from his reading of the column and inferences about what personality features they appeal to. The Stars Down to Earth is best read, then, with The Authoritarian Personality (1950), a book that has come in for considerable criticism but rests on just the kind of empirical research Stars lacks.

[Rich Booher · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Paradoxically, a higher amount of insight might result in a reversion to attitudes that prevailed long before the rise of modern capitalism. For, while people recognize their dependence and often enough venture the opinion that they are mere pawns, it is extremely difficult for them to face this dependence unmitigated…What drives people into the arms of the various kinds of "prophets of deceit" is not only their sense of dependence and their wish to attribute this dependence to some "higher" and ultimately more justifiable sources, but it is also their wish to reinforce their own dependence, not to have to take matters into their own hands—a wish, true, which is ultimately engendered by the pressure under which they live.”

“That is to say, they feel that everything is linked up with everything else and that they have no way out, but at the same time the whole mechanism is so complicated that they fail to understand its raison d'être and even more, they suspect that this closed and systematic organization of society does not really serve their wants and needs, but has a fetishistic, self-perpetuating "irrational" quality, strangely alienated from the life that is thus being structured. Thus people even of supposedly "normal" mind are prepared to accept systems of delusions for the simple reason that it is too difficult to distinguish such systems from the equally inexorable and equally opaque one under which they actually have to live out their lives.”

[AB Freeman · Rating 4 out of 5]

My November 2024 Reading List originally focussed on modern Indian novelists; however, immediately following the results of the 2024 US Presidential Election, I felt a pull to transition away from this plan and instead shift toward relevant philosophical and historical texts concerning the Gilded Age and inequality, the structure of the open society, the irrationality of fascism, and the core components of the human condition. In researching several post WWII philosophers, Adorno’s intellectual eminence and connection to the Frankfurt School rose to the fore. As such, through reading this text, I came to better understand the irrational pathologies that lead toward acceptance of fascism as a tenable form of governance.

The primary essay in the collection, “The Stars Down to Earth,” examines the inanities and rational deficiencies of believing in astrology, with Adorno taking careful precautions to equate such flawed thinking with both fascist and anti-Semitic tendencies. Essentially, he criticises astrological columns (specifically that of the 1950s Los Angeles Times) as a kind of disingenuous infantilising “cultural product” that plants the seeds of the minimisation of individual agency in deference to an outside force that instructs people “how to live.” This irrationalism, by extension, can manifest in emotional arguments against “enemies inside” – as it has within the modern history of anti-Semitism – and a propagandistic nationalism stirred by an apocalyptic fascist ideology bent toward destruction. Impending catastrophe remains ever-present, along with a manufactured desire to allow the “Great Man” to resolve tensions, thereby purifying the State of any agitators that may be perceived as contributing to the instability of the society. The additional essays, “Research Project on Anti-Semitism: Idea of the Project” and “Anti-Semitism and Fascist Propaganda,” explore further ramifications of these irrational methodologies in the Othering of peoples, much to the diminishment of the societal fabric overall.

4 stars. This essay collection represents the first Adorno work I’ve read, but it was enough of a primer to determine a desire to read more of his oeuvre. Not every element of what this collection contains is free from criticism; however, I found it a compelling and engaging entrance into his philosophical world. I’m certain to examine more of his works as time continues.

[Marcella · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adorno faz uma crítica contundente à coluna de astrologia, entendida como produto da indústria cultural e identificada enquanto função ideológica conservadora, que, ao mesmo tempo, justifica o status quo e estimula um comportamento de conformidade social (utilizando, inclusive, uma abordagem de constante ameaça ao leitor em relação a seu futuro). Adorno identifica como esse ajustamento ao padrão e o incentivo à individualidade não se contradizem, como poderia a princípio parecer. Pelo contrário, "o ajustamento exige individualidade. (...) Quem quer se ajustar ao padrão competitivo da sociedade - ou ao sucessor mais hierarquizado - precisa dedicar-se aos seus próprios interesses individuais particularistas de maneira implacável para encontrar reconhecimento: deve, por assim dizer, ajustar-se pelo não ajustamento, por uma ênfase inabalável em seus interesses egoístas limitados e suas concomitantes limitações psicológicas". Se talvez ninguém precise ler um livro para saber que as colunas astrológicas exploram a fragilidade egoica de seus leitores para obterem adesão, o melhor do livro é observar como Adorno destrincha esses mecanismos de controle social, produzindo uma leitura muito atual sobre o funcionamento ideológico do capitalismo tardio.

[TheEoJMan · Rating 2 out of 5]

In an effort to read the hopefully “forgotten gems” of a philosopher’s oeuvre one soon realizes that certain works are forgotten for a reason. Considering the popularity of astrology nowadays it seemed perfect to read an Adorno piece criticizing its irrationality. Ultimately, what more can be said beyond something to the effect of “it’s stupid hokum for dullards.” The extra essays are clearly just filler (the Minima Moralia essay is obviously great, but then just read Minima Moralia). No substantive discussions on irrationality—I really should just read the Horkheimer co-author book.

[Moxie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book, written between 1930s-1950s, is timeless. Adorno's insight into the forces that make people so easy to mislead is crucial for us to understand so that we do not fall into the grasp of power hungry dictators, mildly or totally psychotic and immoral elected presidents, or dominated by diseased capitalist systems.

Highly relevant in the wake of the Trump presidency. He was a problem, but he is not gone. The persistent problem is us human beings and our potential for evil.

[Pedro Schulz · Rating 4 out of 5]

O desenvolvimento é algo repetitivo, mas a linguagem é muito acessível e a conclusão é genial. Apesar de escrito há 50 anos, tem muito a dizer sobre esses tempos de negacionismo.
Enfim, o teórico mor do desgoverno atual é ou não é um astrólogo?

[Ravi]

the girls and the gays are in fact capable of fascism

[SweetCorn03 · Rating 3 out of 5]

that's right, astrology is STUPID!! you heard it here first.

[Sunny · Rating 3 out of 5]

An ok read. Intellectual as you would expect throughout but didn’t excite me as much as some of his other stuff. The book is mainly about the link between the sequaciousness with which individuals kowtow consciously or subconsciously to the baffling logic behind astrology and horoscopes and the way in which the psychology of the masses can be just as easily baffled in socialist nationalist environments which are hotbeds of Nazi-esque millions who are so so so easily manipulated. Adorno talks about Hitler a few times and asserts that it was precisely Hitler’s deliberately clowned out acting and absurdity of his speeches which attracted the masses. His slogans often of a few words only were easy to memorize like a mother teaching a new born a language for the first time. To those fertile minds Hitler’s words would have been so alluring and the hideousness with which he was able to paint the damage done by the Jews was the other half of his trick. The book gives lots of example of horoscopes which use language which isn’t completely dissimilar and the authors prey upon susceptible individuals who want to hear read precisely what the horoscope writers put into those tabloids. the second half of the book is about anti=Semitism and Adorno explores why this has taken place throughout the ages and why that type of sick thinking may be in us dormant, in amongst us seemingly educated mases who claim not to be racist in the least. Adorno also writes: “What is really happening is that concomitantly with the ever increasing belief in facts information has a tendency to replace intellectual penetration and reflection.” It’s this inability to intellectualise that Adorno says is what sways the masses to commit the hideous crimes that they do.

[Mira · Rating 4 out of 5]

Who would have thought of comparing astrology and capitalism to authoritarian irrationalism, paranoia and fascist propaganda?
Although, he sometimes misses the fact that there are inadvertently people not completely suckered in to the dream of help from an overarching power-source, yet because of their place within the masses, are part of what the mass just happens to be doing at that point in time. I suppose in most cases in the West the source of spiritual/philosophical comfort comes from either astrology, religion and/or the products of capital and not from a direct experience of the world, but from a spectacle of it and the promise of life as spectacle as fulfillment. Cant escape that, no matter how hardline you are.
Is it bad to like films? Damn you Adorno!

I like the Freudian analysis re fascist and even sometimes communist leaders acting out as the cooler older brother. That bit was funny/scary. As much as I think old traditional forms of patriarchy should be abolished, you gotta wonder if the said "older brother" in control is worse. What about the mother-figure? That'll f you up too I suppose! To quote Bowie.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Despite some massive holes in his method (which Bruce Lincoln says comes from Adorno's inborn arrogance, not his lack of realization, and I think he's right), Adorno is fascinating here. This is the first of his work I've read and, from what I hear, easily the most accessible and readable. Adorno uses newspaper horoscope columns to determine a wealth of things about the society that reads them (in this case, people in LA and, to some degree, the US as a whole). What we are essentially to know is that Americans (or at least those who regularly read horoscopes) are intellectually lazy wanna-be mystics who use the horoscopes to justify and then confirm our apathetic and passive approach to life. Awesome.

[Ben Hunt · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got at this book from a the Mike Davis book "City of Quartz", where he talks about these European critical intellectuals, who, during the rise of antisemitism, were given safe haven by the Hollywood studio system. Classical composers writing horror movie soundtracks, Schopenhauer being angry because Shirley Temple was on the Map to the Stars tour and he wasn't, etc. Funny stuff, but this book was an incredible crossover of the two forms of culture: Adorno basically argues that the "horoscope speech" is essentially similar to fascist speech: a voice speaking into the ether, that appears to address you directly.

Basically it takes the hipster trope of turning up your nose at popular culture to its most dizzying zenith.