Before analyzing Kid Rock as a cultural phenomenon, we first have to spend some time with the Frankfurt School, a group of European academics who rose to prominence in the mid 20th century.  No, seriously. The word "dialectic" gets thrown around enough to warrant some clarification.  Now used primarily as a pseudo-intellectual shibboleth to refer to social changes, the philosophical roots of the modern concept of dialectic are surprisingly important.  Dialectic describes Hegel's idea that as society moves toward its perfected state, it must resolve internal contradictions – issues that cause social unrest and then lead to social change.  According to Hegel, this process was inevitable and outside human control, and this idea, grounded in the economic sphere, would be adopted by Marx and serve as the foundation of Marxist thought. The actual outcomes of the Marxist revolutions – despotic and impoverished regimes – were of course...(Read Full Article)