Herbert Marcuse, Radical Subjectivity, and the Prospects for an Ecological Civilization

• In Event: Marxist Sociology Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): Marxist Sociology Section Roundtable 2

Abstract

The primary purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how, through three subsequent periods of his work, Herbert Marcuse continued to articulate the broad outlines of a conception of radical subjectivity. These periods are roughly demarcated by his writings that extended, first, from the publication of “The Struggle against Liberalism in the Totalitarian View of the State” (1934) through Reason and Revolution (1941); second, from Eros and Civilization (1955) through One-Dimensional Man (1964); and third, from An Essay on Liberation (1969) through “Ecology and the Critique of Modern Society” (1979). While conducting a review and critical analysis of these and other writings, I show how a distinct set of characteristics of radical subjectivity emerged from his work. In conclusion, I show how these characteristics, when (re)theorized and critically appropriated in light of our contemporary global situation and its crises, can contribute to the development of a more complex, multifaceted conception of radical subjectivity – one that, I argue, has the potential to contribute significantly to attempts to respond to the enormous challenges humanity currently faces.

Author

• Michael J. Sukhov