Marcuse Critical Essay

Ruben Valdez
POLS 421
Critical Essay #2- Marcuse
October 23, 2014
Consumer Ethics within Society
The readings of Marcuse have really opened my eyes to the reality of my life and the false needs we are un-aware of on a daily basis. I believe that Marcuse could be related to a Marxian standpoint on social reality and false consciousness. According to Marx, false consciousness provides a mental framework, thoughts and identities. The mental construct of a person which is shaped by institutions can sometimes create distortions, errors, blind spots in a person’s consciousness. Therefore, the person’s thoughts, ideas and frameworks develop in such a way that generates a false consciousness. In my opinion, Marcuse’s true and false needs and Marx’s
false consciousness have some similarities in reason. For example, Marcuse talks about the differences between true and false needs. He goes on to say that humans have a vital number of needs that every society must meet. “The only needs that have an unqualified claim for satisfaction are the vital ones- nourishment, clothing, lodging at the attainable level of culture” (Marcuse 5). Of course, everybody would like to satisfy their needs with as little work as possible but would also like to reduce poverty and eliminate it if possible. To provide the basic necessities, goods, and services would create less injustice and oppression in the world. According to Marcuse, more leisure time would also result in more pleasure and beauty. The goals of justice and enjoyment are inherent in the universal desire to satisfy basic needs.
There is no doubt that we are a consumer society in the U.S. and as James Twitchell stated, “American culture is well on its way to becoming world culture”. I think his argument is really relevant because of the amount of money put into advertising. Advertising tells people what they should love and hate. For example, advertising tells consumers that they should buy flavored bottled water for their children because that’s what other caring, loving mothers buy for their children. Marcuse states that his optimal goal is the replacement of false needs with true ones. (Marcuse 7) I think that this is necessary because the complete opposite happens all of the time. Using my bottled water example again, I can say that water is a “true” need. We need water in order to survive. It gets turned into a “false” need when we are forced to believe that tap water is unhealthy and water needs to be enhanced with vitamins and consumed inside a bottle with a fancy label. Marcuse would also agree that every society has created a way of meeting vital needs. A society tries to convince its members that its’ chosen ways of meeting needs are objectively necessary. In simpler terms, people are being surrounded with many other needs that are not basic or universal. These are socially created needs. Marcuse identifies socially created needs as needs that have nothing to do with our basic needs. In many ways, we work against our basic needs in life to fulfill our false ones. For example, the books references false needs as the “superimposed upon the individual by particular social interest in his repression: the needs which perpetuate toil, aggressiveness, misery, and injustice” (Marcuse, 5). Let’s imagine that we work 80 hours a week, we can buy nice things but really we are depriving ourselves of the missed opportunities in life. According to Marcuse, we will put ourselves under the constant strain to perform these tasks. Or “superimpose upon an individual by particular social interests in his repression: the need which perpetuate toil, aggressiveness, misery, and injustice” (Marcuse 5). Furthermore, Marcuse’s characterization of the new social reality as “a more progressive stage of alienation” (Marcuse, 11) is possible. The alienated conditions lead to an objective form that includes the individually alienated subjects. It becomes a reality which everyone experiences. Similarly, Marcuse argues that the colonization of reality by industrial production is an expansion into the actual production process. In a society where commodities are available to satisfy most needs: the production, distribution, and attainment processes. Therefore, all components of industrial capitalism become second nature, promoting “a false consciousness which is immune against its own falsehood” (Marcuse, 12).
In the 21st century, our technology now allows us to meet all the basic needs of all the people in the world with very little labor.
No matter how much the population grows, if everyone worked at producing goods to meet the basic needs of life, there would be far too many of these goods. This in turn would drive the price down and nobody would make a profit. For example, if every worker in the United States was a taught how to build cars in an assembly line, and car production was all we did, then the price of cars would not range in the thousands of dollars. Instead, they would become a lot cheaper because of their over production. Sadly this is not the case, and although it may be a unrealistic metaphor it gets the point across. What Marcuse is trying to say is, in order to keep the capitalist system going, work must be done for socially created needs that have little to do with basic human
needs. As humans we have also internalized the “norms” and base our sense of personal identity to recognize it. For example, we see ourselves as consumers. And we define ourselves in the terms of what we consume. In fact we learn at an early age to need all these unnecessary consumer items. We come to believe that everything we need can be purchased in the market or store. We have also come to believe that we need everything that is for sale in store. Do you ever ask yourself why you need a blender or a toaster? Our society has created a sense of urgency and individuality around these items, although they are socially created needs within our lives. According to Marcuse “This civilization transforms the object world into an extension of man’s mind and body. The people recognize themselves in their commodities. They find their soul in their automobile, hi-fi set, split-level home, kitchen equipment” (Marcuse, 9). So in reality, our positive self image depends on an endless round of buying. Also, buying the items that we do not need does not bring us closer to our true consciousness. Society wants consumers to keep buying the things that they don’t need so they feel like they are a part of this normality. But, we all experience the world in different ways, which is not only shaped by our skills and personalities, but instead by the items that we purchase. We work to satisfy these needs and although this work may be repetitive, boring and useless. “The social controls exact the overwhelming need for the production and consumption of waste; the need for stupefying work where it is no longer a real necessity; the need for modes of relaxation which sooth and prolong this stupefication” (Marcuse 7). Most importantly for Marcuse, rewards within the system are handed out very unevenly and unfairly. There are the few people at the top who get the large amounts of money, power and other resources, while most people get nothing. The system produces and unfair advantage to most of the people living in poverty. Toil, misery and injustice follow the path of social injustice and consumerism. In my personal experiences, Marcuse provides a valid argument for the objects that I purchase.
Although I feel like I “need” them at that moment, it becomes more of a problem in the future when I look back at the amount of money I’ve spent on one particular item. For example, I would get a refund check from my Financial Aid every year and spend a vast amount of money on posters, shoes, clothes and other miscellaneous items, but now that my bank account is thinning out- did I really need those items? During the summer I would work almost 70 hours a week just to satisfy my habit of shopping; seems like I am just another person falling victim to consumerism. Marcuse’s argument on work and consumer related issues really made me think why I need to spend this money on these things that I really don’t need. The feeling of “”If I don’t buy this then I’m going to go crazy” really does take its
toll.

References
Marcuse, Herbert. One Dimensional Man. London: Sphere, 1968. Print.