Industrial media
This is an industry that was just beginning its rise to power in Adorno's day—the entertainment industry. Adorno realized that with the technological progress of the 20th century, art and entertainment could be more efficiently shared through official-seeming means. He feels that this shift makes the culture more likely to fall prey to capitalistic tendencies that have an adverse affect on the health and diversity of culture. He fears that the entertainment industry will come to define the culture of the Western world.
The zeitgeist
The zeitgeist is a term used to describe the shared cultural identity of a society. The zeitgeist is like a summation of art and culture. In Adorno's essays, the zeitgeist is treated as a dynamic object which evolves and changes. This is purely theoretical, but one might have a certain "vibe" that they identify with the 70's or 80's, just for example. Adorno's commentary focuses on the health and diversity of true art in the zeitgeist. He worries that more and more the zeitgeist seems to be dominated by the economic interests of major entertainment companies.
Homogenization
The enemy of true beauty is sameness and trite repetitions of known art. Adorno expresses his distaste with this decomposition of art. In Adorno's mind, art is an epic endeavor of the human soul to try and capture something salient and true. But, with money involved, companies only tend to try what they believe will work. This leads to a systemic homogenization, he says, as companies isolate exact ways to mass produce media that is proven to attract entertainment-hungry audiences.
Cultural esotericism
Adorno argues that in light of cultural homogeneity and the growth of mainstream media and entertainment, that rebellious pockets of true art will emerge, but without the endorsement of the zeitgeist, the movements will seem often underground and esoteric. Adorno's writing mentions the pretentiousness of art, because if art is less available, it might become pretentious to enjoy works of high art. This would be a devastating transition for the zeitgeist, he feels.
The modernist motif
Adorno's writing is situated in an interesting academic space. Because of the timing of his writing and the outbreak of World War, the culture after his writing was more influenced by the chaos and absolute terror of World War II than by his often appropriate and timely commentary. He is largely relegated to a "modernist" label because he invokes some modernist philosophy through motif. For instance, the concern of the zeitgeist, the progress of technology, and the relationship between art and human life.
