 Cover of the first edition | |
| Author | Herbert Marcuse |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Subjects | Capitalism,communism,democracy,industrialization |
| Publisher | Beacon Press |
Publication date | 1964 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 257 |
| ISBN | 0-415-07429-0 (2. ed.) |
| Part ofa series on the |
| Frankfurt School |
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Major works |
One-Dimensional Man: Studies in the Ideology of Advanced Industrial Society is a 1964 book by the German–Americanphilosopher andcritical theoristHerbert Marcuse, in which the author offers a wide-ranging critique of both the contemporarycapitalist society of theWestern Bloc and thecommunist society of theSoviet Union, documenting the parallel rise of new forms ofsocial repression in both of these societies, and the decline of revolutionary potential in the West. He argues that the "advancedindustrial society" createdfalse needs, which integrated individuals into the existing system of production and consumption viamass media,advertising, industrial management, and contemporary modes of thought.[1]
This results in a "one-dimensional" universe of thought and behavior, in which aptitude and ability forcritical 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 prevailingpositivism.[1]
Marcuse also analyzes the integration of the industrialworking class into capitalist society and new forms of capitalist stabilization, thus questioning theMarxian postulates of the revolutionary proletariat and the inevitability ofcapitalist crisis. In contrast toorthodox Marxism, Marcuse champions non-integrated forces ofminorities, outsiders, and radicalintelligentsia, attempting to nourish oppositional thought and behavior through promoting radical thinking and opposition. He considers the trends towardsbureaucracy in supposedly Marxist countries to be as oppositional to freedom as those in the capitalist West.[1]One-Dimensional Man bolstered Marcuse's fame as a contemporaryWestern philosopher.[2]
Marcuse strongly criticizesconsumerism and modern "industrial society", which he claims is a form ofsocial control. Marcuse argues that while the system the West lives in may claim to bedemocratic, it is actuallytotalitarian. A form oftechnological rationality has imposed itself on every aspect ofculture andpublic life, and has becomehegemonic. Through our identification with thishegemonic ideology ofmodern industrial society, thisideology doesn't only represent a form of "false consciousness", yet rather has succeeded in becomingreality.
Modern industrial societies have furthermore created an "affluent society", which in increasing comfort have disguised theexploitative nature of the system, and have therefore strengthened means of domination and control. Modern "affluent society" therefore limits opportunities for political revolution against capitalism.
Marcuse contends that in contemporaryconsumer societies, a select few wield the power to shape our conceptions of freedom by offering us the means to purchase our own happiness.[3] In this state of "unfreedom",[4] consumers act irrationally by working more than they are required to in order to fulfill actual basic needs, by ignoring the psychologically destructive effects, by ignoring the waste and environmental damage it causes, and by searching for social connection through material items.[5]
It is even more irrational in the sense that the creation of new products, calling for the disposal of old products, fuels the economy and encourages the need to work more to buy more. An individual loses his humanity and becomes a tool in the industrial machine and a cog in the consumer machine. Additionally, advertising sustains consumerism, which disintegratessocietal demeanor, delivered in bulk and informing the masses that happiness can be bought, an idea that is psychologically damaging.
There are alternatives to counter the consumer lifestyle.Anti-consumerism is a lifestyle that demotes any unnecessary consumption, as well as unnecessary work, waste, etc. But even this alternative is complicated by the extreme interpenetration of advertising andcommodification because everything is a commodity, even those things that are actual needs.
The critical theoristDouglas Kellner asserted that "One-Dimensional Man" stands out as a paramount work of the 1960s and remains one of the most subversive literary contributions of the twentieth century. Despite its pessimism, represented by the citation of the words ofWalter Benjamin at the end of this book that "Nur um der Hoffnungslosen willen ist uns die Hoffnung gegeben"[6] ("It is only for the sake of those without hope that hope is given to us"[7]), it influenced many in theNew Left as it articulated their growing dissatisfaction with both capitalist societies and Soviet communist societies.[1]
Marcuse praisedPaul Mattick's critique of the book.
The philosopher Ronald Aronson wrote in 2014 thatOne-Dimensional Man is more prescient than Marcuse could have ever realized and that it is more relevant than ever.[8]
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