Study On The Comparison Of Ideology Theory Between Marcuse And Habermas

Ideology is a term influencing people’s life at one moment. It was put forward asa simple concept and then developed into the invisible foundation of influencing themass and politics. Its pioneer Teixeira just opened Pandora’s Box, making it as theconcept that theorists always pursue and explore, thus the proposal of this concept hasthe significance of milestone. Its creation and development has experienced a longhistory. Strictly speaking, the real critique of ideology originates from Marx. Theideology of Frankfurt School was created under the background of reflecting therationalism of modern enlightenment. It criticizes the ideology of the developedcapitalism society to explore the possibility of the occurrence of new sensibleconsciousness, so as to prepare the conditions for human liberation. The ideology ofFrankfurt School is famous for the ideology criticism theories of Marcuse andHabermas. Marcuse and Habermas are the representatives of Frankfurt School indifferent periods, but they have close connection. Habermas’ Ideology as Techniqueand Science is a dispute for Marcuse’s ideology theory. This paper aims to focus onthe relationship between scientific technique and ideology and illustrate their originsof thought and backgrounds to deepen the understanding of these two thoughts byanalyzing their contents and social prospects, so as to compare their ideology theoriesto further improve the definition of the connotation of ideology theory.The paper consists of five sections. The first section illustrates the origin of theideology of Marcuse and Habermas. Throughout “rationality” of Max Weber, thecriticism of Lukacs on “materialization” and of Horkheimer and Adorno on spirit ofenlightenment, the origin of the ideology of Marcuse and Habermas is perceived tofurther clarify the clue of the development of ideology theory and analyze them to learn lessons.The second section discusses the criticism of Marcuse and Habermas onscientific technique respectively. Marcuse holds that scientific technique leads toone-dimension society. Habermas argues that scientific technique leads tocolonization of life world. Throughout the comparison of their criticism on scientifictechnique, it clarifies the role of scientific technique in late capitalism society.The third section states the different understanding of Marcuse and Habermas onthe connotation of ideology. Marcuse argues the rationality of technique is the innercore of ideology in late capitalism society. Habermas holds that technocracy is aninvisible ideology in late capitalism society.The fourth section explores their different understanding on the relationship ofscientific technique and ideology. Marcuse holds that scientific technique has becomethe same ideology as politics, economy and culture. Habermas holds that scientifictechnique is a new ideology different from the traditional ideology in the meantime ofdetermining that scientific technique is the first productivity.The fifth section shows that their different ways to solve the legalization crisis ofcapitalism society. Marcuse argues that the current scientific technique must beoverturned to create a new scientific technique. Habermas argues that therationalization of communication action can solve the legalization crisis.