One-Dimensional Man -- A Study of Ideology in Developed Industrial Society

Author: (American) Herbert Marcuse, translated by Liu Ji
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-04-01
Features: Herbert Marcuse (1898-1979) was a leading figure of the Frankfurt School's left wing. This book is his most renowned work, aimed at revealing the totalitarian characteristics of contemporary advanced industrial societies. After its publication in the UK and the US, it was subsequently translated into German and French in Germany and France, and later published in multiple languages in many countries, becoming known as the textbook for the Western student rebellion movement of the late 1960s. The book, excluding the introduction, consists of three parts: "One-Dimensional Society," "One-Dimensional Thought," and "The Opportunity of Alternative Choices." Through analysis and critique of fields such as politics, life, thought, culture, and language, the author points out how developed industrial societies have successfully suppressed the negative, critical, and transcendent dimensions within people's hearts, turning this society into a one-dimensional one and its inhabitants into one-dimensional individuals. Such individuals lose their freedom and creativity, no longer imagining or pursuing a different life from the real one. This book provides a relatively profound exposure and exploration of modern capitalist society but reveals the utopian nature of its social critique theory. It holds significant theoretical value for studying the development of the Frankfurt School and Marcuse's theories.