Digitalization, Cultural Production, Exchange, and Consumption

These were the sociologists from the Frankfurt School, Theodor Adorno (1903–1969), and Max Horkheimer (1895–1973) (Adorno & Horkheimer, 1944), who coined the term “cultural industries.” They were worried about commercialization, mechanical production, and trade in cultural products. However, by 1970s, the culture became an accepted commodity to be traded and produced. The rise of the electronic and digital industry further provided a flip to it, and music, plays, cinemas, arts, designs, etc., started being produced and traded on a mass scale. Added to it were instrumental music, video games, and virtual reality shows. Since the 1990s, with the commercialization of the Internet, e-commerce has led to sizeable trade in cultural and creative goods and trade.