Marcuse argued that the middle class was too obsessed with consumerism for them to fight capitalism. This leads to a weak unity among the working class. Instead, the marginalized, victims of fascism basically, should be united.
I read an article critical of him on the marxists website, and it was kinda dumb. At the start of the article the writer labeled him as “anti-working class”, he immediately accused him of being a CIA puppet as well. Then he said he was an anarchist lol. Afterwards, he claims that the working class is not pacified, citing they had " lack of trust" in government as evidence.
Finally, here is a gem of a statement emphasizing the author’s idiocy.
“Marcuse was also often accused of being an advocate of the so-called “sexual revolution,” including the supposedly “liberating” effects of promiscuity, pornography and the sexual content of mass culture. Actually, he was strongly opposed to these trends; which he criticized with his theory of “repressive desublimation.” By turning people’s natural sexuality into a commodity, he argued, capitalism actually repressed their capacity for loving relationships and replaced it with perversions that became increasingly brutal. He associated this perversity with the rise of fascist trends and viewed its encouragement by the ruling class as a form of social control.”
It seems the writer thinks porn is liberating? It’s what I got from this.
What do you guys think of Marcuse?
In his written works, he criticized capitalism, modern technology, Soviet Communism, and popular culture, arguing that they represent new forms of social control.[8]
Between 1943 and 1950, Marcuse worked in US government service for the Office of Strategic Services (predecessor of the Central Intelligence Agency) where he criticized the ideology of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in the book Soviet Marxism: A Critical Analysis (1958).
From what I’ve gathered he worked with this organization for fighting fascism. It’s not fair to use this as an argument to discredit his work.
In my opinion he just follows the lines of what is referred to as “Western Marxist”, this does not mean the entire work of that person is useless. Sartre did some spectacular work regarding existentialism and considered himself a Marxist yet criticised every existing Marxist State either as authoritative, not Marxist enough, and so on. By all mean I’m sure you can learn new things from reading Marcusse, but I don’t think you should consider his opinions on the USSR very seriously, and it is, in my opinion, better to spend your time reading a either a text or a critique of a true revolutionary. That said, I do have One Dimensional Man in my bookshelf and will read it one day.
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Your comment is much appreciated! I just ordered One Dimensional Man yesterday. I am worried that I will have difficulty understanding the book because of that remark you posted. The book arrives in a week, so I’ll read up on Freudian concepts while I wait.
I personally think that, from marcuse, ODM is one of the more approachable texts
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