From: "Christian Fuchs" <christian-AT-igw.tuwien.ac.at>
Subject: Re: A Marcuse Renaissance????
Date: Sat, 7 Sep 2002 18:10:11 +0200


-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: "Ralph Dumain" <rdumain-AT-igc.org>
An: <frankfurt-school-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu>
Gesendet: Samstag, 07. September 2002 00:39
Betreff: Re: A Marcuse Renaissance????


It would be very important to
> compare the one-dimensionality of American society up through the end of
> the '60s with its one-dimensionality now.  We live in a more
> self-consciously cynical time, and consumer culture is far sexier, as the
> cultural revolution of the 60s has been sublated into the commodity
> fetishism of the 80s and 90s.  Why do you think nobody talks about
> conformity anymore, as they did in the 1940s-60s?  There's a reason, and
it
> is because the culture and structure of conformity have changed.

i think there is a dialectic of constancy and inconstancy concerning the
difference of capitalism in the 60ies and 90ies. a new mode of capitalist
development has emerged, post-fordist, neoliberal, information-societal,
control capitalism. concerning ideological manipulation false consciousness
remains a fact, but you're right there are of course new ideological
strategies of the dominant groups.
i think that concerning ideology there is a shift from the disciplinary
society to what deleuze called the society of control. in the 60ies
consciousness and life-style was coined by mass consumer culture and
standardisation. there was a standardised mass individual with standardised,
false consciousness.
due to the falling profit rates in the crisis of the 70ies, new strategies
for capital accumulation were developed. hence flexibilisation, diversified
quality production etc. there is a shift from mass standardisation to
individualised production and consumption. concerning life-style strategies
of distinction by consumption have become important. people want to be
something special and capital offers them individualised consumption and it
appears like by consuming specific articles one can be different from the
others. in fact, difference and plurality are marketing strategies in
"postmodern" capitalism.
but the essence behind the appearance, i.e. economic reality, is
one-dimensional capitalist society because all types of capitalism are
one-dimensional and true individuality in the sense of well-rounded
individuals as mentioned by marx isn't possible in capitalism.
so people think they are different, something distinct, live in a
pluralistic society etc. but in fact one-dimensionality remains because
false consciousness remains and plurality and distinction have been
capitalised in order to produce and reproduce false consciousness. so people
are still one-dimensional, but another way round, just because they think
they are different, individualistic etc. they are one-dimensional. this
believe in already being a true individual in capitalism serves dominating
interests.
so on the one hand we have new ideology, but still the same exploitative
capitalist system which has entered a new mode of development. and along
with that some new economic, political and cultural qualities have emerged.
nobody talks about conformity because people think they don't conform. but
just by "non-conforming" they in fact conform. that's one-dimensional
society in full effect. many people love this society and their jobs
although there objectively is no happiness in capitalism.
i've realised that some of you positively mentioned habermas. i won't go
into details, but if criticism means as marx pointed out "ruthless criticism
of the existing order, ruthless in that it will shrink neither from its own
discoveries, nor from conflict with the powers that be" and involves the
belief "that man is the highest essence for man" and hence includes "the
categoric imperative to overthrow all relations in which man is a debased,
enslaved, abandoned, despicable essence"; then what's critical about
habermas or giddens? critique and the affirmation of capitalism don't go
together, it can only be a radical negation with a positve, humanistic
concrete utopia of freedom and happiness.

christian