Rational administration of consumption masks the loss of individual control over life decisions
Evidence
The novel feature is the overwhelming rationality in this irrational enterprise, and the depth of the preconditioning which shapes the instinctual drives and aspirations of the individuals and obscures the difference between false and true consciousness. For in reality, neither the utilization of administrative rather than physical controls (hunger, personal dependence, force), nor the change in the character of heavy work, nor the assimilation of occupational classes, nor the equalization in the sphere of consumption compensate for the fact that the decisions over life and death, over personal and national security are made at places over which the individuals have no control. — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man, 186
Categorization
- XREF: Directly serves the reading purpose: freedom as control — the comforts of consumption as compensation for genuine powerlessness maps onto attraction/attention-economy critiques. — connects to: The compulsion to consume everything newest replaces rational need with anxiety about falling behind; Comfortable administered life reduces freedom’s use-value — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man: Studies in the…, 230; Existential dread drives conspicuous consumption beyond rational calculation. — Sheldon Solomon, Jeff Greenberg, Tom Pyszczynski, The Worm at the Core: On the Role of…, 456 (+5 more)
- DEFINE: Clarifies Marcuse’s concept of ‘false vs true consciousness’ — that preconditioning so reshapes drives and aspirations that individuals can no longer distinguish between them.
Broader Connections
- Production regulates mental consumption as it does material consumption.
#expands(0.80) — Theodor W. Adorno, The Culture Industry, 267 - Attention-economy distractions accumulate to erode autonomy and selfhood
#expands(0.78) — Jenny Odell, How to Do Nothing, 403 - Existential dread drives conspicuous consumption beyond rational calculation.
#complicates(0.75) — Sheldon Solomon, Jeff Greenberg, Tom Pyszczynski, The Worm at the Core, 456