Herbert Marcuse’s Theory of Domination

Authors

  • Christopher Ryan Maboloc

Keywords:

Domination, Capitalism, Modern Technology, Culture Industry

Abstract

This investigation hopes to make an exposition of a theory of domination that can be found in the writings of the German critical theorist Herbert Marcuse. Marcuse thinks that man as well as human society has been reduced into a one-dimensional system in which needs are manufactured by the state’s technical capacity. Domination permeates all walks of life. Beginning with Sigmund Freud, the paper traces how a system of control has found its way into our way of life. Capitalism’s dominant values have characterized the nature of modern technology, from our gadgets to social media. The culture industry has reduced people and human relations into the superficial. The meaning of freedom, in this sense, should be found elsewhere. The author proposes a return to ordinary life where happiness is to be described as the freedom from false needs and empty desires.

Author Biography

Christopher Ryan Maboloc

Dr. Christopher Ryan Maboloc is an associate professor at Ateneo de Davao University and a Visiting Professor for Global Justice at the American University of Sovereign Nations (AUSN) in Arizona, USA. He holds a Master of Applied Ethics from Linkoping University in Sweden and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim, Norway. He finished his Master of Arts in Philosophy at Ateneo de Manila University. He received his doctorate degree in philosophy, maxima cum laude, from the University of San Carlos. He was trained in democracy and governance at the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS) in Bonn and Berlin, Germany, and was a delegate in the Erasmus Mundus GA in Brussels, Belgium. He served as editor of the Social Ethics Society Journal of Applied Philosophy and is a peer reviewer for 10 indexed international journals. He has published 50+ articles in peer-reviewed journals, including a dozen indexed by Scopus. He won the Public Intellectual Prize from the Philosophical Association of the Philippines in 2020.

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Published

2021-06-04

How to Cite

Maboloc, C. R. (2021). Herbert Marcuse’s Theory of Domination. SABTON: Multidisciplinary Research Journal, 3(1), 1–14. Retrieved from https://journal.evsu.edu.ph/index.php/sabton-mrj/article/view/188

Issue

Vol. 3 No. 1 (2021): SABTON: Multidisciplinary Research Journal

Section

Articles