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One-Dimensional Man

One-Dimensional Man

by Herbert Marcuse

First published 1963 · 260 pages · about 4 hours to read

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About this book

One-Dimensional Man: Studies in the Ideology of Advanced Industrial Society is a 1964 book by the philosopher Herbert Marcuse, in which the author offers a wide-ranging critique of both contemporary capitalism and the Communist society of the Soviet Union, documenting the parallel rise of new forms of social repression in both these societies, as well as the decline of revolutionary potential in the West. He argues that "advanced industrial society" created false needs, which integrated individuals into the existing system of production and consumption via mass media, advertising, industrial management, and contemporary modes of thought.

(Source: Wikipedia)

Quotes

  • “All liberation depends on the consciousness of servitude, and the emergence of this consciousness is always hampered by the predominance of needs and satisfactions which, to a great extent, have become the individual's own.”
    p. 7
  • “The happy consciousness is shaky enough—a thin surface over fear, frustration, and disgust.”
    p. 76
  • “The liberating force of technology—the instrumentalization of things—turns into … the instrumentalization of man.”
    p. 159
  • “The slaves of developed industrial civilization are sublimated slaves.”
    p. 32
  • “Entertainment and learning are not opposites; entertainment may be the most effective mode of learning.”
    pp. 66-67

Quotes from Wikiquote (CC BY-SA 4.0), chosen with AI.

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