The philosopher Theodor Adorno was born in Frankfurt, in 1903, and he is most closely associated with the Frankfurt School. The term ‘Frankfurt School' embraces the work of the members and associates of the Frankfurt Institute for Social Research. Founded in 1924, the Institute was attached to Frankfurt University. It took its distinctive form, supporting multi-disciplinary research in the social sciences, grounded in an Hegelian-Marxist critical theory, when Max Horkheimer became its director in 1930. While Adorno did indeed emerge as its leading theorist in the 1950s, as well as becoming the co-director (with Horkheimer), he did not formally become a member of the Institute until the 1940s, when both he and the Institute were in exile

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First published 07 July 2001

Citation: Edgar, Andrew. "Theodor Adorno". The Literary Encyclopedia. 7 July 2001.
[http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=38, accessed 21 November 2009.]