1. erstition1. Widely held belief2. Overly credulous3. Incorrectly attributes causation4. Ex) horoscopes, ghosts, “bad luck”, tarot cards2. In all superstition, wise men follow fools; and arguments are fitted to practice, in a reversed order.” Sir Fraces Bacon3. Its an inversion of logic and reality, people lay aside their suspicion to follow people of whom they should be suspicious4. Rather than examine our world and thinking critically about our condi-tions5. People form their arguments to better rationalize their world, what they already do, the way you already see the world.6. Ideology in politics is superstition that serves a particular function7. Managing ideas (some true, some false, some distorted, some irrele-vant), that when taken together help sustain and legitimate a domi-nant political paradigm.8. We are socialized to accept beliefs about our world that are widely held, overly credulous, and incorrectly attribute causation (critical the-ory is centered on teaching us to challenge2. Marx and Engel’s THeory Historical Materialism1. Humans distinguish themselves from animals by changing their envi-ronment, consciously, to satisfy basic needs: food, shelter, safety.2. The satisfaction of these needs leads to the creation of new needs, that must bow be met.3. The method by which we satisfy these needs is the “mode of reduc-tion”, snd contains certain ways of organizing class.4. They way these needs are satisfied determine our consciousness.3. The Frankfurt school1. Sought to understand the politics of culture2. Formed in response to raising Fascism in Europe4. Critical theory1. “One cannot determine what good, a free society would like from within the society which we now live in. We lack the means. But in our work we can bring up the negative aspects of this society, which we want to change.” Marx Horkheimer2. Sought to explain the means by which ideology kept working people from experiencing true freedom.3. Expose and challenge the myths and super5. Standardization.1. Art succumbs to formula, genre2. Plotlines follow predictable paths3. Time and “look” of artistic works must conform to various standards and fulfill expectations4. All driven by commercial imperatives to maximize profit6. “Pseudo-Indivudalization”1. Capitalism conveys myth of the individual and of the rebel2. People want to express themselves as being different from the “crowd”3. Desire to stand out from the crowd creates new market opportunities.4. For Adorno and Horkheimer, all culture is “predigested”