The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, despite its lofty principles, has not fundamentally altered the Western perspective towards other peoples. This reveals a contradiction between the proclaimed principles of rights and the disregard for human values exhibited by politicians, leaders, and military figures who prioritize their national interests. This behavior stems from the scientific superiority that can potentially threaten the world. Furthermore, liberalism fails to deliver on its promises, as instrumental rationality has detached human sciences from the essence of humanity. This instrumental approach reduces the relationship between humans and nature to mere utilitarianism, leading to the exploitation of individuals as objects of experimentation, regulation, and quantification. Consequently, comprehensive control over individuals becomes the norm.

Recognizing these issues, the pioneers of the Frankfurt School focused on the plight of Western individuals whose freedom is restricted within societies that espouse the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Despite such declarations, various forms of oppression and humiliation persist within the political and economic institutions that rely on science and technology.

The Frankfurt School was deeply concerned with any factors that curtail human freedom, subjecting individuals to a state of powerlessness and oppression. Their efforts aimed to provide social criticism and raise human consciousness to seek liberation and salvation. Scientific progress and technological development, instead of fulfilling their promises to advance humanity as advocated by Enlightenment philosophers, have become tools of oppression. This critical perspective questions the political and ideological exploitation of scientific progress, which has spawned intricate networks of social, political, and economic interests within Western societies. The critique lies in the reality of political and irrational exploitation enabled by scientific progress, which results in the enslavement rather than liberation of humanity.

Consequently, the Frankfurt School pioneers criticized numerous aspects of Western society, including the devaluation of the individual and the pervasive control that stems from a crisis rooted in the exclusion of human essence. This exploitation of the individual reduces them to a mere instrument serving oppressive ideologies.