Dialectic of Enlightenment (1947)

Adorno and Horkheimer: Enlightenment promised liberation through reason but became a new myth of domination. Myth is already enlightenment, and enlightenment reverts to mythology. They treat Auschwitz as a culmination of instrumental reason.

In the Culture Industry chapter they argue that films, radio, and magazines standardise culture while offering the illusion of choice. "All are free to dance and enjoy... but freedom to choose an ideology... proves to be the freedom to choose what is always the same."