Studies in the Ideology of Advanced Industrial Society (Routledge Classics)
336 pages
English language
Published July 13, 2002 by Routledge.
One-Dimensional Man: Studies in the Ideology of Advanced Industrial Society is a 1964 book by the philosopher Herbert Marcuse, in which the author offers a wide-ranging critique of both contemporary capitalism and the Communist society of the Soviet Union, documenting the parallel rise of new forms of social repression in both these societies, as well as the decline of revolutionary potential in the West. He argues that "advanced industrial society" created false needs, which integrated individuals into the existing system of production and consumption via mass media, advertising, industrial management, and contemporary modes of thought.This results in a "one-dimensional" universe of thought and behavior, in which aptitude and ability for critical thought and oppositional behavior wither away. Against this prevailing climate, Marcuse promotes the "great refusal" (described at length in the book) as the only adequate opposition to all-encompassing methods of control. Much of the book is a defense of …
One-Dimensional Man: Studies in the Ideology of Advanced Industrial Society is a 1964 book by the philosopher Herbert Marcuse, in which the author offers a wide-ranging critique of both contemporary capitalism and the Communist society of the Soviet Union, documenting the parallel rise of new forms of social repression in both these societies, as well as the decline of revolutionary potential in the West. He argues that "advanced industrial society" created false needs, which integrated individuals into the existing system of production and consumption via mass media, advertising, industrial management, and contemporary modes of thought.This results in a "one-dimensional" universe of thought and behavior, in which aptitude and ability for critical thought and oppositional behavior wither away. Against this prevailing climate, Marcuse promotes the "great refusal" (described at length in the book) as the only adequate opposition to all-encompassing methods of control. Much of the book is a defense of "negative thinking" as a disrupting force against the prevailing positivism.Marcuse also analyzes the integration of the industrial working class into capitalist society and new forms of capitalist stabilization, thus questioning the Marxian postulates of the revolutionary proletariat and the inevitability of capitalist crisis. In contrast to orthodox Marxism, Marcuse champions non-integrated forces of minorities, outsiders, and radical intelligentsia, attempting to nourish oppositional thought and behavior through promoting radical thinking and opposition. He considers the trends towards bureaucracy in supposedly Marxist countries to be as oppositional to freedom as those in the capitalist West.One-Dimensional Man bolstered Marcuse's fame as a contemporary Western philosopher.
Desarrollo de lo esbozado en el texto "El carácter afirmativo de la cultura". No solo se estructura todo un sistema de pensamiento sino que se extiende por diferentes dimensiones (social, política, económica, individual, etc.). Obligatorio para comprender aspectos sociales de "Occidente" desde la Guerra Fría hasta estos días.
Third time reading this book all the way through. It's a good and enlightening text. His explorations of how critical, negative, thinking becomes increasingly impossible still holds true today. I also find the critique of technology and technics fascinating, especially the emphasis on technology developing in the modern era as a dominating force. Even though Marcuses philosophy of technology is ambivalent concerning whether its is a mere instrument or if technics have some substantial dominating content, I think the latter opens for a far more interesting discussion, especially concerning what we must do if we want to overcome capitalism. An overcoming of capitalism would probably also entail some form of transformation or revolution in technology. At the same time, the text is severely lacking when it comes to a more general understanding of capitalism. Trapped in the engelsian and second international interpretation of Capital, critical theory here as elsewhere are …
Third time reading this book all the way through. It's a good and enlightening text. His explorations of how critical, negative, thinking becomes increasingly impossible still holds true today. I also find the critique of technology and technics fascinating, especially the emphasis on technology developing in the modern era as a dominating force. Even though Marcuses philosophy of technology is ambivalent concerning whether its is a mere instrument or if technics have some substantial dominating content, I think the latter opens for a far more interesting discussion, especially concerning what we must do if we want to overcome capitalism. An overcoming of capitalism would probably also entail some form of transformation or revolution in technology. At the same time, the text is severely lacking when it comes to a more general understanding of capitalism. Trapped in the engelsian and second international interpretation of Capital, critical theory here as elsewhere are unable to grasp the more subtle details about the value-form and thus locate abstract domination in technology, instrumental reason and positivism. All I've read in critical theory points towards this lack, and the need for value-theory, theories of abstract domination and the state as ideal total capitalist is necessary to elevate critical theory from a progressive and sometimes even conservative critique of modernity, to a theoretical endeavor capable of supporting a communist movement today.
I found this book very difficult to read. Individual ideas made sense, and some of them I would like to explore more deeply, but once the discussion began, I became lost in the language and logic of social theory, which is not a field I have any previous knowledge of. So although individual ideas made sense, when I got to the end of a chapter I had no idea what I'd read. Which is really too bad because I think the author had some useful insights into modern Western society ... I'm just not sure what they are!
