| In the first half of the 20 th century,the two world wars caused great losses to capitalist society,especially the extensive use of science and technology during the war,which caused even more amazing destructive and harmful effects.With the rapid development of monopoly capitalist economy,the cultural field is also moving towards integration,with German Nazi culture and American mass culture as the typical representative.In addition to concentrating and monopolizing in the economic and political spheres,Germany’s highly autocratic rule since the Nazis came to power has increased its grip on the cultural sphere,essentially serving the political interests of culture.Under the persecution of the Nazis,Marcuse who was Jewish descent,eventually went to the United States.Witnessing the popularity of American liberalism,Marcuse drew strong attention such cultural phenomenon.Especially with the help of mass media,mass culture permeates all fields of society and becomes an ideological tool to control people’s ideology.At the same time,Marcuse absorbed and used for reference the theoretical achievements of Heidegger,Marx,Freud and others.Eventually,Marcuse ’s most prestigious effort was to modify and increase the publication of One Dimensional Man(1964),reflecting his strong social criticism and realistic concern.In the One Dimensional Man,Marcuse tried to criticize the unreasonableness under the cover of developed industrial society.First of all,the developed industrial society is a morbid society.Science and technology has become a new form of social control,which has successfully reconciled opposing classes in society,stifled people’s liberation needs,and effectively curbed social change.Then,the negative power of culture and art and the function of alienation are refuted by reality.Science and technology have removed the opposing and transcendental factors of culture,the alienation of art has succumbed to technical rationality,and culture and art have been unified by reality,which has shaped people’s unidirectional thinking and behavior.In the end,people lose their inner negativity.The high efficiency and productivity of the developed industrial civilization made people get rid of the material shortage and go to the society with abundant material.But the progress of science and technology has not become the force of people’s liberation,but has made people lose their rebellious consciousness and critical spirit in the satisfaction of material needs and the joy of false happiness.Ultimately,this society became a one-dimensional society,the culturein the society became a one-dimensional culture,and the people living in it became one-dimensional people.Marcuse’s revelation of the developed industrial society reveals his critical spirit and humanistic spirit,and deepens our understanding of capitalist society.Marcuse’s cultural critical theory has its own theoretical characteristics.In the analysis of the unidirectional development of various fields in the developed industrial society,it contains a substantive analysis of the ideology of science and technology,cultural commodification,and human surviva,which help us to better understand the positioning of the theory in the development of Marcuse’s thought.At the same time,we must objectively analyze Marcuse’s cultural critical theory.On the one hand,the theory also has certain biases and deficiencies,so we have to "subject" on the basis of dialectical analysis.On the other hand,Marcuse’s cultural critical theory,as an important part of the cultural criticism,still has profound significance for the development of Western Marxist thought.It also has a certain impact on the development of Western Marxism,such as humanitarian Marxism,ecological Marxism,and psychoanalysis,which demonstrates Marcuse’s theoretical characteristics and ideological vigour. |
