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LUCIEN GOLDMANN
additional repression, which is measured by the difference between
necessary and effective repression; and he demonstrates that while
the extraordinary productivity of contemporary society has reduced
necessary repression to a minimum, the structure of corporate capi–
talism and consumer society has greatly increased effective repression.
Hence additional repression has grown considerably, affecting not
only the possibilities of liberation in which Marcuse is primarily
interested, but also our understanding of past societies.
One Dimensional Man
argues that capitalism and consumer
society represent a threat to culture and the development of per–
sonality. From Pascal through Kant, Hegel and Marx, dialectical
philosophy had defined man by the double dimension of his adapta–
tion and his transcendence of reality, that is, by the real and the
possible. And earlier philosophy, based on reason, also had led to the
transcendence of reality. Transcendence is rooted in Western cul–
ture. But now, as Marcuse demonstrates quite brilliantly, we have
for the first time a stratified society which by raising the standard
of living and manipulating men's minds makes them more adaptable
and reduces the drive toward transcendence. Thus creativity as well
as human liberty is threatened by the monster of social planning:
we have one-dimensional man, well paid, comfortable, knowing only
how to execute other people's decisions, and consume.
One can't overestimate the importance of
Eros and Civilization
and
One Dimensional Man,
the first works to formulate the program
of the opposition which, despite Marcuse's pessimism, was
in reality
developing in the advanced industrial societies. Traditional socialist
thought spoke mainly in the name of the suffering of the masses,
and only incidentally in the name of freedom and equality. By con–
tinuing to press economic demands, which corporate capitalism was
actually satisfying, the left was beginning to find itself in a false
position; it was becoming more dogmatic, more ideological and
more artificial. Marcuse's achievement - despite one's disagreements
with him - was to formulate the contemporary problem. He was
first to account for the growing discontent all over the world. To
be sure, it had been voiced in avant-garde literature and in the other
arts, but they had been treated with contempt by positivist sociologists,
who, like Darrendorf, spoke ironically of "cultural criticism" or the
"bohemian-literature-of-St. Germain-des-Pres," until it became evi-
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