Liberation and Utopia
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 23707802 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Douglas Kellner (0000-0002-1643-6744, The University of Texas at Austin, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1984 |
| Pages | 320-362 |
| Publication date | 1984-01-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | CHAPTER |
| Venue | Herbert Marcuse and the Crisis of Marxism (SOURCE_BOOK) |
| Publisher | Macmillan Education UK (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1007/978-1-349-17583-3_11 |
| OpenAlex | W2497630633 |
| ISBN | 9781349175833 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 3 |
As the possibilities for radical social change dramatically accelerated in the 1960s, Marcuse began renewed reflection on liberation and revolution which he concluded required utopian concepts of an alternative society and a new concept of socialism. He constantly argued that since the problems in the existing society could not be solved by piecemeal reform, a new society is needed to provide maximum human freedom and well-being. 1 He remained an intransigent revolutionist who believed that it was necessary to have in view the goals of liberation to produce political theory and action which would not simply reproduce the oppressive features of the existing society. Since ‘the whole is not true’, a radically new social order is necessary to provide liberated human beings with a good life. 2 Although Marcuse came to appreciate the benefits of more gradual social change, he maintained constantly that the changes and reforms should strive for human liberation and social revolution if they are not to be merely cosmetic improvements of the existing society. In this sense, whatever political positions Marcuse may have defended at a given time and place, the goal of a new society and liberated humanity remained central to his thought.
Action (physics) · Communism · Environmental ethics · Humanity · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Socialism · Sociology · Utopia · Critical Theory and Philosophy · Law · Philosophy · Political Economy and Marxism · Psychoanalysis, Philosophy, and Politics
| Highly cited | No |
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