One-Dimensional Man: Studies in the Ideology of Advanced Industrial Society

[If linguistic analysis in the tradition of Wittgenstein] contributes to enclosing thought in the circle of the mutilated universe of ordinary discourse, it is at best entirely inconsequential. And, at worst, it is an escape into the non-controversial, the unreal, into that which is only academically controversial.

This is my kind of philosophy.

To say that this meta-context is the Society (with a capital 'S') is to hypostatize the whole over and above the parts. But this hypostatization takes place in reality, is the reality, and the analysis can overcome it only by recognizing it and by comprehending its scope and its causes.

Although it does have its problems, including too much of Marx's embrace of technology:

the break in turn

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depends on the continued existence of the the technical base itself....The qualitative change rather lies in the reconstruction of this base--that is, in its development with a view of different ends.

A worthwhile read. show less

One-Dimensional Man is one of those unique books who grow into their predictions.

Marcuse examined the popular culture and technological achievements of his time and correctly saw their underlying logic -- that of the 'rational', 'scientific' way of managing society, which was not solely a tool of the Western elite but had also been adopted by the Soviet Bloc.

This way of management, no less totalitarian than Mussolini's Italy or Nazi Germany uses the manipulation of language, a cowed, self abasing intelligentsia and complete administration of society to maintain its indefinite dominance and nip any attempt at autonomy in the bud. The products we buy, the television (and now internet) we view and the language we use all imprison our show more minds in a way more complete than any fanatic or fascist could imagine. One can indeed trap more flies with honey than vinegar.

Fifty years later, the fantastic success of technology at producing material goods and at achieving mass communication has gone on unabated, and we are still buying into the insane, dichotomous logic of perpetual war -- first with the Soviet Union, now with the more nebulous enemy of 'terror' -- of the need for more and more consumption of limited resources, of less and less real freedom. Incessant attacks on Imagination and the humanities for not being 'realistic' or 'rational' continue, the biosphere is in as dire straits as ever it was... and for what?

Today it is difficult to read this book as anything but a prescient jeremiad, albeit with more hope than it ought to have. show less

Herbert Marcuse's analysis and image of a one-dimensional man in a one-dimensional society has shaped many young radicals' way of seeing and experiencing life. Published in 1964, it fast became an ideological bible for the emergent New Left. As Douglas Kellner notes in his introduction, Marcuse's greatest work was a "damning indictment of contemporary Western societies, capitalist and communist". Yet it also expressed the hopes of a radical philosopher that human freedom and happiness could be greatly expanded beyond the regimented thought and behaviour prevalent in established society. For those who held the reigns of power Marcuse's call to arms threatened civilization to its very core. For many others however, it represented a show more freedom hitherto unimaginable. show less

This is Marcuse's most famous work and one that was a major influence on and during the student revolts all over the European continent of 1968. Many of the catchphrases of that time, such as "repressive tolerance" and the like, are derived directly from Marcuse. He has since lost much of his popularity and audience, and in my view, quite deservedly so.

His main thesis is that modern man has become one-dimensional due to the totalitarian, all-encompassing exercise of power by the entrenched capitalist class. While this of itself is not such a bad idea, though certainly romanticizing and exaggerating reality, his approach to explaining and attacking it leaves very much to be desired. Marcuse overuses empty or unexplained phrases show more endlessly (like "cutting off perspectives through an overwhelming ossified concreteness of imagery" and similar things) while at the same time hardly making use of any prior thought or philosophy on the subject at all. This makes the impression of much ranting and little content. Even worse is his general laziness as a thinker - he never actually bothers to explain why such a full-spectrum dominance has occurred or how he wants to prove its existence, he merely asserts it and then goes on about the manifold bad effects it has.
Rather bizarre in this context, and perhaps even nihilistic, is his general dislike of what he perceives as "rationality". He only uses this word in negative contexts (particularly in the context of industrial expansion) and seems to consider it the primary form of "one-dimensional thinking", affected by the symbolism of capitalism. Now it is one thing to say that the fashionable concept of rationalism is false and ill-founded, but to reject relying on rational processes altogether as he seems to do is a bit too much.

To put it bluntly, everything Marcuse has written in this book has also been written in, say, Debord's "The Society of the Spectacle", and then in half as many words and quite more philosophically coherent. The early Marcuse (of Eros and Civilization) was much better; this book warrants no more interest than a purely antiquarian historical one. show less

Utile tornare ai classici, soprattutto se non li si è mai letti. In Marcuse, al di là dell'iniziale barriera linguistico-ideologica (testo del 1964, ma sembra più vecchio), c'è una delle più concrete condanne del razionalismo tecnologico che guida la società occidentale. In questo senso, questo libro (di cui a essere mitico è già soltanto il titolo) fa il paio con quelli di autori come Anders, Mumford o anche Debord. Si muove tra la filosofia e la sociologia, e uno dei principali meriti del libro è quello di ragionare sulla relazione fra tecnologia, arte e filosofia. Non è inutile dire - come altri qui sotto - che il libro conserva tutta la sua attualità anche a distanza di 50 anni e oltre.

One Dimensional Man is an indictment of Industrial Society, ie the one you probably live in if you are reading this review. It is a criticism of the effects that Industrial Society and Capitalism have on man, the way he thinks, lives, and speaks. The general ills that are diagnosed include consumerism, social control via corporations or government, soft restrictions on freedom via brainwashing of a kind, environmental damage, and repression of creativity. He talks about history, technological rationality as a cause of the ills, as well as vague solutions of a socialist nature.
Much of what is said in this book does hold up to scrutiny - the complaints against the effects on man of technology, modern economies, and industry, seem to be show more valid and more in evidence now than when this book was written (though very few concrete examples of anything are given in this book).
My complaint however is that the book is not easy to read, and most of what has been written here has been put more plainly and/or concisely in other works written before (Orwell's 1984,and Hoggart's Uses of Literacy) or after (Kaczynski's Industrial Society and It's Future, and Lorenz's Civilised Man's Eight Deadly Sins). Marcuse has a very particular way of writing, and the easiest way I found to get my head around the meaning of the sentences was to imagine an impassioned and charismatic political demagogue reading them out loud at the top of their voice at a left-wing political rally, to determine which words in the sentence needed to be emphasized to illuminate the meaning. This is of course partly unfair as the arguments here are generally fair and rational, but the words have seemingly been chosen more to sound impressive than to effectively communicate ideas. The blame for this is partly his own, and partly the framework of political philosophy he was immersed in.
Though the book raises many important concerns over the effects that most modern societies have on man, and for this reason will be of interest to many readers, it is difficult to recommend when the main points are better expressed elsewhere. show less

'(1) I ride in a new automobile. I experience its beauty, shininess, power, convenience--but then I become aware of the fact that in a relatively short time it will deteriorate and need repair; that its beauty and surface are cheap. its power unnecessary, its size idiotic; and that I will not find a parking place. I come to think of my car as a product of one of the Big Three automobile corporations. The latter determine the appearance of my car and make its beauty as well as its cheapness, its power as well as its shakiness, its working as well as its obsolescence. In a way, I feel cheated. I believe that the car is not what it could be, that better cars could 'be made for less money. But the other guy has to live, too. Wages and taxes show more are too high; turnover is necessary; we have it much better than before. The tension between appearance and reality melts away and both merge in one rather pleasant feeling.

(2) I take a walk in the country. Everything is as it should be: Nature at its best. Birds, sun. soft grass, a view through the trees of the mountains, nobody around, no radio, no smell of gasoline. Then the path turns and ends on the highway. I am back among the billboards, service stations, motels, and roadhouses. I was in a National Park. and I now know that this was not reality. It was a "reservation" something that is being preserved like a species dying out. If it were not for the government, the billboards, hot dog stands, and motels would long since have invaded that piece of Nature. I am grateful to the government; we have it much better than before ...

(3) The subway during evening rush hour. What I see of the people are tired faces and limbs, hatred and anger. I feel someone might at any moment draw a knife-just so. They read, or rather they are soaked in their newspaper or magazine or paperback. And yet, a couple of hours later, the same people, deodorized, washed, dressed-up or down, may be happy and tender, really smile, and forget (or remember). But most of them will probably have some awful togetherness or aloneness at home.' show less