The Study On Marcuse's Theory Of Ideology

Herbert Marcuse put forward two solutions for problems in Enlightenment. One was developing aesthetics, which was elaborated in the book “Eros And Civilization”; the other was a negative solution, focusing on the research of one-dimensional man, according to the book “One-Dimensional Man”. Marcuse illustrated his ideology theory based on the theory of “one-dimensional society”, “one-dimensional thought” and “the chance of the alternatives”.Marcuse described how technical reason gradually shapes a totalitarian society in the advanced industrial society. Meanwhile he found why the voice of opposition could never be heard, and how transcendent, critical and negative dimensions coming from one's inner heart disappeared in a totalitarian society. As time went by, the advanced industrial society turned out to be the one-dimensional society and all people in the society one-dimensional man.The thesis is more concentrated on the theory of “one-dimensional society”. The writing thought is similar to that of the book “One-Dimensional Man”, whose logic of argument is emphasized by the author's own perception.The thesis is divided into four parts.Part 1: Technology as a ruling tool. In this chapter, the entanglements between false needs and true needs, social needs and personal needs are discussed for the perpetuation of the struggle for existence, the effects of operationalism on the integration of society and person are explained and new forms of control in a totalitarian society are discussed in terms of production and consumption.Part 2: Integration of politics and economy. In this chapter, the author explores the process of political and economic integration, and models the Welfare State to analyze the logic of political control of the advanced industrial society. Then he reveals how the society could close the political universe, contain the social change and keep the state of slavery.Part 3: Integration of culture and ideology. This chapter expends on the artistic alienation. The author reveals the reasons, process and effects of the disappearance of the negative dimension in the realm of culture and thought by focusing on the significance of the art and “higher culture” and revealing the process of desublimation.Part 4: The new compromise in the universe of discourse. This chapter is mainly about “concept” and “operationalism”. The author discusses why the “concept” has the negative power and the way it collapses on the effect of “operationalism”. Then he illustrates the discourse's ability of political criticism, and demonstrates the influence of the closed universe of discourse on the forming of one-dimensional society.