The Sociology Book

184

D

uring the 20th century, it

became apparent that the

transformation of society

theorized by Karl Marx had failed

to materialize. The sociologist and

philosopher Herbert Marcuse tried

to determine what had happened

by urging Marxists to move beyond

theory and take into account the

real, lived experience of individuals.

Marcuse said that capitalism

had somehow integrated the

working class: workers who were

supposed to be the agents of

change had accepted the ideas

and ideals of the establishment.

They had lost sight of themselves

as a class or group and become

“individuals” within a system that

prized individuality. This seemed

to be the route to success, but

in abandoning their group, the

workers lost all bargaining power.

Freedom to choose

How had the workers been so easily

silenced? There was no obvious

moment at which this had taken

place, so Marcuse examined how

rebellion against the status quo

seemed to have been so effectively

quashed during the 20th century.

He started by looking much further

back, to the end of feudal society

in Europe in the late Middle Ages.

In this time of transition, people

moved from being bound to work

for a landowner to being free to

find work anywhere, for their own

benefit alone. But this “freedom of

enterprise was, from the beginning,

not altogether a blessing,” says

Marcuse. Although free to work

wherever they wanted, the majority

of people had to labor extremely

HERBERT MARCUSE

The Statue of Liberty symbolizes

the American Dream of a “classless”

society with equal opportunity –

through hard work, anyone can improve

their lives and fulfill their potential.

Culture has always played a key role

in pointing to possible ways of living

that are outside the social “norm.”

The possibility of rebellion

has effectively been quashed:

mass culture reinforces

political repression.

But from the 1960s, even art forms once

thought subversive were subsumed

into daily life and appropriated by the media.

By absorbing the media’s messages people

accepted society’s rules and values as

their own; they realized that to step beyond

them would seem neurotic.

IN CONTEXT

FOCUS

The culture industry

KEY DATES

1840s Karl Marx says there

are always at least two classes

in capitalist societies: those

who own the means of

production and those who

sell their labor to that group.

1923 The Institute for Social

Research is founded in

Frankfurt, and gives rise to the

new “critical theory” of culture.

1944 German-Jewish émigrés

Max Horkheimer and Theodor

W. Adorno coin the term

“culture industry” in

Dialectic of Enlightenment.

1963 Canadian sociologist

Erving Goffman publishes

Stigma, in which he claims

identity is constructed by

other people and society.

1970s–80s Michel Foucault

examines the normalizing

techniques of modern society.