One-Dimensional Man: A Study of Ideology in Advanced Industrial Society

Author: (USA) Herbert Marcuse
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-04-01
Features: Herbert Marcuse (1918-1979) was a leading figure of the Frankfurt School's left wing. This book is his most celebrated 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 and published in Germany and France. It was later translated into multiple languages and published in many countries, becoming known as the textbook for the university rebellion movement in the late 1960s in the West. The book, excluding the introduction, consists of three parts: "One-Dimensional Society," "One-Dimensional Thought," and "The Opportunity for Alternative Choices." Through analysis and critique of politics, life, thought, culture, language, and other fields, the author points out how advanced industrial societies have successfully suppressed the negative, critical, and transcendent dimensions within people's hearts, turning this society into a one-dimensional society and its inhabitants into one-dimensional people. Such people lose their freedom and creativity, no longer imagining or pursuing a life different from the real world. 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 the study of the Frankfurt School and the development of Marcuse's theories.