“The double reality of 1968” : Paz and Adorno on domination, critique and action

• In Event: Frankfurt School in Latin America

Abstract

Octavio Paz’s critical project in “The Other Mexico”, centering on the Tlateloco Massacre, and Theodor Adorno’s critique of post-Enlightenment society in “Late Capitalism or Industrial Society?” develop several parallel problems and themes. The paper will examine the emancipatory intentions of both intellectuals as they respond in nearly the same moment to different social and political contexts. While attending to Paz’s specific geo-political and cultural concerns and Adorno’s focus on society as a whole, the paper will compare their respective treatments of critique and resistance in the face of domination. Paz’s interpretation of the event will be contrasted with Elena Poniatowska’s more empirical and expressive chronicle. Also referenced will be relevant texts by Carlos Monsiváis, Walter Benjamin and Néstor García Canclini. The similar but not identical critiques of contemporary societies undertaken by Paz and Adorno have continuing implications for a robust public sphere that evaluates society’s economic issues and generates a rationally-based public opinion that can resist the status quo. The paper will go on to examine the relationship of force and reason in the public sphere and in contemporary protest.

Author

• Christine McVay, Independent Scholar