The Research Of Marcuse’s Social Critical Theory

Herbert Marcuse who has been widely researched by others during his life and after death is one of the important representatives of Frankfurt School, Especially in the 1960s, he rise to fame by the student movement of Europe and America. The unique modern critical theoretical paradigm which he had created on the basis of Frankfurt School was formed after the World War Ⅱ, then the Western developed industrial countries began a social transformation, so it is can be said that distinctive characteristics of the times gave birth to his theory. About ideological and theoretical origins, Heidegger and Marx and Freud etc are reflected in his theoretical system.His theoretical system can be divided into three; those are the critical theme and the critical object and the revolutionary design. The critical theme is one-dimensional people and society. The critical object is the technical rationality, consumption alienation, popular culture, positivism and additional repression etc. Modern social revolution is motivated by opposition to repression, Marcuse reckoned, thus the goal is to establish a non-repressive society. The traditional revolutionary subject, which be called as the proletariat, has made place for the new revolution subject whose the sub-sectors of social marginalization and he people of oppression of the Third World. About revolutionary road, he advocated the proposition of the great refusal, moreover elaborated the theories of the Eros Revolution, the Nature Revolution and the Art Revolution. With regard of the ideological character, the Scholastic and reality, the extreme left and extreme right, humanism and totalitarian, utopian and radical pessimism overlaps in his theory, and his position is Marxist or non-Marxist is disputed. Summarily, his theory has both advantages and limitations, but it makes no difference to give a rich sense of enlightenment.Jurgen Habermas, the second generation of the Frankfurt School’s main representative, and Andrew Feinberg. the famous American philosopher, have developed the idea of Marcuse. Moreover, Marcuse’s critical theory of society is of inspiration and reference to research on the status of China’s development.