Culture industry, digital media, and education

Abstract

Based on the critiques of the culture industry and mass culture developed by Theodor Adorno, we problematize the way in which images disseminated by contemporary digital media, aligned with the logic of capitalism, produce hegemonic visualities that influence behaviors and establish standardized ways of life in contemporary times. In this scenario, we argue that education must assume responsibility for an emancipatory formation, enabling subjects to question and re-signify the effects of these visualities in their lives. In dialogue with Guattari, Walter Benjamin, and Foucault, we present points of convergence and divergence in relation to Adorno’s incisive approach. We maintain that the emancipation of the gaze should take place within learning contexts, and we highlight the Pedagogy of Multiliteracies as an educational practice that allows for seeing and interpreting the world beyond what is visible to an uncritical eye. Considering that visualities, according to Mirzoeff, carry within them techniques of control that strip us of the “right to look,” we advocate for this right, understanding that it can be restored through education.