Society of the Spectacle

by Guy Debord

3 hrs and 43 mins

English language

Published 2015 by New Saucerian Press.

(28 reviews)

This is the "Das Kapital" of the 20th century - an essential text, and the main theoretical work of the Situationists. Few works of political and cultural theory have been as enduringly provocative. From its publication amid the social upheavals of the 1960s up to the present, the volatile theses of this book have decisively transformed debates on the shape of modernity, capitalism, and everyday life in the 21st century. This is the original translation by Fredy Perlman, kept in print continuously for the last 50 years, keeping the flame of personal and collective autonomy alive.

16 editions

Fionnáin reviewed Society of the Spectacle by Guy Debord

Review of 'Society of the Spectacle' on 'GoodReads'

3 stars

Debord's short book is a prescient and driven polemic about how the "spectacle" became normalised in capitalist society in the postwar west. Written in 1967, much of the book has stood the test of time but much of it seems like an unfinished chapter in a broader critique. It is written in a series of short arguments, many of which don't quite address the spectacle, but make a broader comment on Marxist theory. Some of the observations, on advertising and individualism, influenced a generation of thinking.

The strongest argument of this book is in the repeated assertions of the spectacle as a colonising action. This, repeated in each chapter, is emphasised and remains relevant in current dialogue about our colonised structures.

loppear reviewed The society of the spectacle by Guy Debord

Review of 'The society of the spectacle' on Goodreads

3 stars

First half clearly condemns capitalism's commodification and all-encompassing veneer of appearance, making very relatable critiques of celebrity, alienation, absorption of leisure time, and technological expansion of the service industry for the 60s. Second half theorizes on Marx & Hegel, on time and history and space. Presents worker's councils and active participation in history as counterforces to the spectacle.