Marcuse’s analysis of capitalism derives partially from one of Karl Marx’s main concepts: Objectification,[6] which under capitalism becomes Alienation. Marx believed that capitalism was exploiting humans; that the objects produced by laborers became alienated and thus ultimately dehumanized them to functional objects.
Marcuse took this belief and expanded it. He argued that capitalism and industrialization pushed laborers so hard that they began to see themselves as extensions of the objects they were producing. At the beginning of One-Dimensional Man Marcuse writes, “The people recognize themselves in their commodities; they find their soul in their automobile, hi-fi set, split-level home, kitchen equipment,”[7] meaning that under capitalism (in consumer society) humans become extensions of the commodities that they create, thus making commodities extensions of people's minds and bodies and calling into question the notion of alienation.
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Showing posts with label Franfurt School. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Franfurt School. Show all posts
Frankfurt declaration
The Frankfurt Declaration is the general name that refers to the set of principles titled Aims and Tasks of Democratic Socialism issued by the Socialist International in Frankfurt, West Germany, on 3 July 1951.[1] The Declaration condemned capitalism for placing the "rights of ownership before the rights of man", for allowing economic inequality, and for its historical support of imperialism and fascism.[1]
The Frankfurt Declaration was updated at the 18th Congress of the Socialist International in Stockholm in June 1989.[2]
It declared that capitalism has coincided with "devastating crises and mass unemployment".[3] It praised the development of the welfare state as challenging capitalism and declared its opposition to Bolshevik communism.[3]
It declared that socialism was an international movement that was plural in nature that required different approaches in different circumstances.[1] However the Declaration stated that true socialism could only be achieved through democracy.[1] The economic goals of socialism according to the Declaration include: full employment; the welfare state; achievement of public ownership through a variety of means, including: nationalization, creation of cooperatives to counter capitalist private enterprise, and/or securing rights for trade unions.[1]
The Declaration stated that economic and social planning did not necessarily have to be achieved in a centralized form, but could also be achieved in decentralized forms.[1] The Declaration denounced all forms of discrimination whether economic, legal, or political must be abolished, including discrimination against women, races, regions, and other social groups.[1] The Declaration denounced all forms of colonialism and imperialism.[1]
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The Frankfurt Declaration was updated at the 18th Congress of the Socialist International in Stockholm in June 1989.[2]
It declared that capitalism has coincided with "devastating crises and mass unemployment".[3] It praised the development of the welfare state as challenging capitalism and declared its opposition to Bolshevik communism.[3]
It declared that socialism was an international movement that was plural in nature that required different approaches in different circumstances.[1] However the Declaration stated that true socialism could only be achieved through democracy.[1] The economic goals of socialism according to the Declaration include: full employment; the welfare state; achievement of public ownership through a variety of means, including: nationalization, creation of cooperatives to counter capitalist private enterprise, and/or securing rights for trade unions.[1]
The Declaration stated that economic and social planning did not necessarily have to be achieved in a centralized form, but could also be achieved in decentralized forms.[1] The Declaration denounced all forms of discrimination whether economic, legal, or political must be abolished, including discrimination against women, races, regions, and other social groups.[1] The Declaration denounced all forms of colonialism and imperialism.[1]
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Franfurt School
The Frankfurt School (German: Frankfurter Schule) refers to a school of neo-Marxist interdisciplinary social theory,[1] particularly associated with the Institute for Social Research at the University of Frankfurt am Main. The school initially consisted of dissident Marxists who believed that some of Marx's followers had come to parrot a narrow selection of Marx's ideas, usually in defense of orthodox Communist parties. Meanwhile, many of these theorists experienced that traditional Marxist theory could not adequately explain the turbulent and unexpected development of capitalist societies in the twentieth century. Critical of both capitalism and Soviet socialism, their writings pointed to the possibility of an alternative path to social development.[2]
Although sometimes only loosely affiliated, Frankfurt School theorists spoke with a common paradigm in mind, thus sharing the same assumptions and being preoccupied with similar questions.[3] In order to fill in the perceived omissions of traditional Marxism, they sought to draw answers from other schools of thought, hence using the insights of antipositivist sociology, psychoanalysis, existential philosophy, and other disciplines.[1] The school's main figures sought to learn from and synthesize the works of such varied thinkers as Kant, Hegel, Marx, Freud, Weber and Lukács.[4]
Following Marx, they were concerned by the conditions which allowed for social change and the establishment of rational institutions.[5] Their emphasis on the "critical" component of theory was derived significantly from their attempt to overcome the limits of positivism, materialism and determinism by returning to Kant's critical philosophy and its successors in German idealism, principally Hegel's philosophy, with its emphasis on dialectic and contradiction as inherent properties of reality.
Since the 1960s, Frankfurt School critical theory has increasingly been guided by Jürgen Habermas' work on communicative reason,[6][7] linguistic intersubjectivity and what Habermas calls "the philosophical discourse of modernity".[8] More recently, critical theorists such as Nikolas Kompridis have voiced opposition to Habermas, claiming that he has undermined the aspirations for social change which originally gave purpose to critical theory's various projects—for example the problem of what reason should mean, the analysis and enlargement of "conditions of possibility" for social emancipation, and the critique of modern capitalism.[9]
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Although sometimes only loosely affiliated, Frankfurt School theorists spoke with a common paradigm in mind, thus sharing the same assumptions and being preoccupied with similar questions.[3] In order to fill in the perceived omissions of traditional Marxism, they sought to draw answers from other schools of thought, hence using the insights of antipositivist sociology, psychoanalysis, existential philosophy, and other disciplines.[1] The school's main figures sought to learn from and synthesize the works of such varied thinkers as Kant, Hegel, Marx, Freud, Weber and Lukács.[4]
Following Marx, they were concerned by the conditions which allowed for social change and the establishment of rational institutions.[5] Their emphasis on the "critical" component of theory was derived significantly from their attempt to overcome the limits of positivism, materialism and determinism by returning to Kant's critical philosophy and its successors in German idealism, principally Hegel's philosophy, with its emphasis on dialectic and contradiction as inherent properties of reality.
Since the 1960s, Frankfurt School critical theory has increasingly been guided by Jürgen Habermas' work on communicative reason,[6][7] linguistic intersubjectivity and what Habermas calls "the philosophical discourse of modernity".[8] More recently, critical theorists such as Nikolas Kompridis have voiced opposition to Habermas, claiming that he has undermined the aspirations for social change which originally gave purpose to critical theory's various projects—for example the problem of what reason should mean, the analysis and enlargement of "conditions of possibility" for social emancipation, and the critique of modern capitalism.[9]
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