The money industry as an extension of the culture industry: An analysis of mass media's stake in financial consumerism

The Canadian and the United States' economies are predicated on the system of capitalism. Its cultures are structured around a belief in free markets. The mass media are dominant institutions in shaping culture. This paper draws from Horkheimer and Adorno's concept of the culture industry and uses critical theory to investigate how the 'culture industry' includes what I refer to as the 'money industry'. I argue that the capitalist elite, which creates a perceived culture of freedom and prosperity for its consumers, controls the culture industry and the money industry. Together these industries shape the social and economic context to further market capitalism as ideology. To illustrate my argument, I refer to the mass deception carried out by the Enron Corporation and show how the rise and fall of its stock price was greatly influenced by information propagated and distributed by the money industry.