Herbert Marcuse’s An Essay on Liberation - 3414 Words

Herbert Marcuse’s An Essay on Liberation We know that the economic evolution of the contemporary world refutes a certain number of the postulates of Marx. If the revolution is to occur at the end of two parallel movements, the unlimited shrinking of capital and the unlimited expansion of the proletariat, it will not occur or ought not to have occurred. Capital and proletariat have both been equally unfaithful to Marx. - Albert Camus, 1953 The validity of Marxist political theory has been seriously challenged by the realities of European civilization, both during the inter-war years and especially after WWII. The threat has been two-fold; on the one hand, was the refusal of capitalism to fail, a failure that Marxists had†¦show more content†¦Central to Marx’s economic model is the contraction of the capitalist class through the function of competition and the corresponding increase in the proletariat. This immizeration, coupled with the increasing degradation of the working classes, was to set the stage for the revolution. What Marx didn’t foresee was the pragmatic decision on the part of capital to allow the standard of living to rise among the workers, thereby easing tension and providing a market for their wares.1 Capitalism also became more complex structurally than the Marxist model. Public ownership of corporations via the stock market and the rise of a new class, the technician (brou ght about by an explosion in manufacturing technology), blurred the lines of societal stratification. To further complicate matters, liberal democracies began to manage national economies, thereby stabilizing the marketplace and apparently ending the old bust-or-boom business cycle. The oppressive nature of industrial capitalism seemed to be giving way before a more egalitarian consumer society, fueled by an ever rising standard of living. Put simply: capitalism was giving the people what they wanted. Or was it? Marcuse argues that the capitalist system gives people what it wants them to want, that it generates needs supportive of mass consumption rather than stimulating creative human development. He believes thatShow MoreRelated Transcending Herbert Marcuse on Alienation, Art and the Humanities4411 Words   |  18 PagesTranscending Herbert Marcuse on Alienation, Art and the Humanities (1) ABSTRACT: This paper discusses how higher education can help us in accomplishing our humanization. It looks at the critical educational theory of Herbert Marcuse, and examines his notion of the dis-alienating power of the aesthetic imagination. In his view, aesthetic education can become the foundation of a re-humanizing critical theory. I question the epistemological underpinnings of Marcuses educational philosophy andRead MoreMicro And Macro Analysis Of Social Theory Of Herbert Marcuse Essay2012 Words   |  9 PagesMicro and Macro Analysis in the Social Theory of Herbert Marcuse. The themes outlined in Herbert Marcuse’s Eros and Civilisation and One Dimensional Man have roots in both Marx’s political economic theory and Freud’s psychology. In explaining the existence of society, Marcuse shows how the motivations of the individual maintain the social world, but are also shaped by structural forces. Through an extension of Marx’s argument and the application of Freud’s psychology, Marcuse explains how the creationRead MoreViolence and Freedom- Exploring the Use of Violence to Liberate the Oppressed2163 Words   |  9 PagesThe role of violence in the liberation of peoples from systems of domination is necessarily entwined to the concept of freedom. Herbert Marcuse and Frantz Fanon argue that violence, in various forms, is the only reasonable rebuttal to the abhorrent system of subjugation, whether it is in shape of something as transparent as apartheid to thinly veiled laws that take away the rights of humans under the capit alist system. To even understand the relationship between freedom and violence it has to beRead MoreThe Theoretical Themes Of Herbert Marcuse s Eros And Civilisation Essay1976 Words   |  8 PagesThe theoretical themes of Herbert Marcuse’s Eros and Civilisation and One Dimensional Man have roots in both Marx and Freud’s theories. In explaining the existence of society, Marcuse shows how the motivations of the individual maintain the social world, but are shaped by structural forces. Through extension of Marx’s argument and the application of Freud’s psychology, Marcuse explains how the creation of the one-dimensional man maintains order and suppresses resistance. Yet, the revolution Marx