Technology, Technological Domination and the Great Refusal: Marcuse’s Critique of the Advanced Industrial Society

Ocay, Jeffry

doi:10.25138/4.1.a.5

Cited by 4 publications

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“…The dialectical relationship between capitalism and technology had long been mentioned in any number of Marx's discussions; however, One Dimensional Man expounds upon this relationship more fully as Marcuse describes the consumer society as ‘the direct offshoot of the systematic manipulation of technology [which] has silenced the individual and made him apathetic or hostile to the idea of dissent’ (Ocay, , p. 60). Ultimately, what marks One Dimensional Man as a canonical work in critical theory is its ability to blend a variety of critical frameworks and implications into a single work and apply them so readily to numerous situations.…”

Section: The Problems Of One Dimensionalitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Praxis Exiled: Herbert Marcuse and the One Dimensional University

Cunningham¹

2013

J. Philos. Educ.

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Leading Frankfurt School theorist, Herbert Marcuse, possessed an intricate relationship with higher education. As a professor, Marcuse participated in the 1960s student movements, believing that college students had potential as revolutionary subjects. Additionally, Marcuse advocated for a college education empowered by a form of praxis that extended education outside the university into realms of critical thought and action. However, the more pessimistic facet of his theory, best represented in the canonical One Dimensional Man, now seems to be the dominant ideology in the contemporary college experience. With the rise of the corporate university, knowledge is commodified and praxis is supplanted by rampant consumerism. Once a haven for critical theory, the college experience has been overtaken by capitalism, substantially limiting the revolutionary potential for college students in favour of an institutionalised, one dimensional university. HERBERT MARCUSE AND THE LEVELING OF THE COLLEGE LANDSCAPEHerbert Marcuse had a profound faith in the power of student populations. In the 1960s, students carried well-thumbed copies of his most notable work, One Dimensional Man, to demonstrations and protests, reciprocally elevating Marcuse to an esteemed position among theorists during that time. Marcuse, himself, participated in these movements and served as a key speaker in lectures celebrating the critical, the radical, and the avantgarde. Though a keen critic of capitalism's subtle deprivations and a theorist openly pessimistic about the expanding intrusiveness of the technological society, there is an underlying hopefulness pulsing through Marcuse's work. Like any true Marxist-inspired theorist, Marcuse envisioned a better future, one ushered not necessarily by the proletariat, but rather by the hundreds of thousands of college students spread across the United States.Marcuse's faith in college students stemmed from multiple originsidealistic and pragmatic. Those enrolled in universities held the most bs_bs_banner

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Section: The Problems Of One Dimensionalitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Praxis Exiled: Herbert Marcuse and the One Dimensional University

Cunningham¹

2013

J. Philos. Educ.

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“…Bunge on the other hand sees technology as a body of knowledge which is a product of science and controlled by the scientific method, and "can be employed to control, transform or create things or processes, natural or social, to some practical end deemed to be valuable" (Bunge, 1976). Technology can be dominating because it is subject to economics and is controlled by a few who serve their own interests and the rest voluntarily conforms as it meets the luxuries of life (Ocay, 2010). Technology is not to blame for this domination but it the way it is controlled by a few.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%