Marcuse termed co-opted liberation ‘repressive desublimation’

Evidence

Marcuse had a particularly arcane term for this dynamic by which a putative form of liberation nonetheless manages to perpetuate existing power structures and prop up “the system.” He called it “repressive desublimation.” — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 597

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines the Marcusean concept of repressive desublimation — a precise term for how apparent freedom perpetuates the system.
• XREF: This is the theoretical keystone tying the whole chapter’s argument together — that countercultural energy was absorbed into commercial attention harvesting. — connects to: Marcuse justified oppressed violence on historical-function not ethical grounds; Marcuse distinguished surplus repression from basic repression, tying it to domination — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 2133; Marcuse saw mass media as absorbing individual thought into indoctrination — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 542