An important term used by Horkheimer and Adorno is ‘mass deception'; they attempt to analyse how consumers of popular/mass culture are deceived by the culture industry. A fundamental argument of the discourse on culture industry is that it is in the service of capitalism and the capitalist ethos. Capitalism is an economic, political and social arrangement where the onus is on private profit and surplus.

Now, culture industry perpetuates the capitalist ethos by portraying the capitalist mode of production, distribution and consumption and the capitalist way of life as a naturalized order. Thus, not only political or social arrangements, even culture and its various forms such as media, films and art are used to suggest the ‘positive' aspects of capitalism to ensure that it remains firmly entrenched in society. Hence, according to Horkheimer and Adorno, the culture industry is in the service of capitalism.