AFFLUENCE VERSUS TRANSCENDENCE
A REFLECTION ON MARCUSE'S ANALYSIS OF THE AFFLUENT SOCIETY
Keywords:
Affluent Society, One-Dimensional Man, Human Development, TranscendenceAbstract
An inquiry into the problem of affluence poses the problem of a value judgement. It implies that affluence, that is, progress and development in an unprecedented manner, should lead to
greater freedom and happiness of man, to greater possibilities for humanization and authentic human life. But in the light of the present development of the advanced industrial societies, the
question may be asked: does affluence help man to attain an authentic development or does it hinder his growth as a human person. Let us examine, first, the characteristics of an affluent
society and, then, its impact on the development of man.
References
J.K. Galbraith. The Affluent Society (Harmondsworth : Middlesex. 1968).p. 13.
H. Marcuse, "l.iheration from the Affluent Society", in D. Cooper (ed)TIll Dialectics of Liberation (Hormondswortb : Penguin books, 1~8) P: 180.
H. Marcuse, O~"·Dimensional Man. Studies in the Ideology of Advanced Industrial Society (Roston: Beacon Press, 1969), p. 19·
T. Velfilamthadam. Tomorrow's Society, Ch. II.
H. Marcuse Soviet Marxism (New YO~'k: Vintage' books), 1961.
H. Marcuse, Erose and Civilization. A Philosophical Inquiry into Freu a
(New York: Vintage Books, 1961), pp. 90-91.
H. Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man, P: 241.
H. Marcusc, An Essay on Liberation (Boston: Beacon Press.1969). p.17.
