Lecture

Technological rationality -the logic that will power modern media

To Read

Herbert Marcuse: One-Dimensional Society (Read the Introduction )

_Routledge Classics_ Herbert Marcuse - One-Dimensional Man (1964) (2006, Routledge) - libgen.li.pdf

drive.google.com

Audiobook

Herbert Marcuse - One Dimensional Man by Listen Left

One-Dimensional Man: Studies in the Ideology of Advanced Industrial Society is a 1964 book by the Freudo-Marxist 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.

soundcloud.com

Synopsis:

One-Dimensional Man by Herbert Marcuse is a critical examination of advanced industrial society and its pervasive influence on thought and behavior. Marcuse argues that technological rationality and consumerism have created a conformist and passive populace, suppressing critical thought and the potential for revolutionary change. The book explores how capitalist societies integrate individuals into the system, reducing the capacity for critical opposition and reinforcing the status quo.

Key Terms: Technological Rationality, Operationalism, Desublimation, Cultural Industry

To Watch

To Fill out

Critical Media Studies Aug 27

docs.google.com

Guiding Questions

• How does Marcuse's concept of "one-dimensional thought" challenge the Enlightenment ideal of rationality, and in what ways does technological rationality contribute to social control in advanced industrial societies?
• In what ways does Marcuse argue that consumerism creates "false needs," and how do these false needs contribute to the maintenance of the status quo within capitalist societies?
• How does Marcuse's concept of "repressive desublimation" explain the integration of oppositional culture into the dominant system, and what are the implications for cultural and political resistance?