While the Frankfurt School was subject to a reception in the United-States, this philosophical movement did not face the same fate in France. The issue of this article is not to answer, in fine, the question ≪ reception or not ? ≫ concerning both countries ; it is to understand two opposite fates. Such an approach is a way to build a theoretical framework for the concept of ≪ reception ≫, and illustrate it in a comparative study.