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Herbert Marcuse, philosopher and social theorist, was a leading member of the Frankfurt School of Critical Theory and, with Jean-Paul Sartre, inspired 1960s student radicalism. Marcuse formulated a distinctive critical theory of society which combined Hegelian-Marxism with insights drawn from his many masterful studies of modern and twentieth-century philosophy and social theory.
Among these are Reason and Revolution: Hegel and the Rise of Social Theory(1941), which rescued Hegelian philosophy from its Nazi-propagated association with totalitarian ideology; Eros and Civilization: A Philosophical Inquiry into Freud (1955), which formulated a unique Marx/Freud synthesis; and One-Dimensional Man: Studies in the Ideology of Advanced Industrial Society(1964), which analyzed ”a comfortable, smooth, reasonable, democratic unfreedom . . . in advanced industrial civilization,” which, Marcuse immediately added, was a token of technical progress.”
Despite his prominence and the influence of such later books as An Essay on Liberation (1969), Counterrevolution and Revolt (1972), and The Aesthetic Dimension (1978), Marcuse’s social and political thought has had little effect on professional sociology. This may be attributed to Marcuse’s lifelong commitment to negation” or dialectical” forms of analysis, which places his otherwise rich oeuvre at loggerheads with positivist mainstream sociology. Likewise, as the generation of the 1960s fades into its golden years, it is doubtful that Marcuse’s intellectual legacy will again significantly inform mass political sensibilities. Neglect of Marcuse is ironic since today’s advanced industrial society appears no less one-dimensional” – no less capable of imagining qualitative self-transformation – nor any less wedded to repressive desublimation” – the process whereby pseudo-gratifications translate into pseudo-freedoms, much as Prole Feed, Hate Week, and the up-scale satisfactions symbolized by Victory Gin were just about enough to ensure happiness in Oceania. Either there will be a catastrophe or things will get worse,” Marcuse sometimes prophesized to his many students. The jury remains out on which it will be.
Bibliography:
- Kellner, D. (1984) Herbert Marcuse and the Crisis of Marxism. University of California Press, Berkeley, CA.
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