Democracy as the Best Form of Governance - Term Paper Example

Capitalism and the theory of alienation and subjugation Capitalism is a form of governance in which the bourgeois have the power to dictate the social, political, and economic state of a given system. As such, capitalism has led to glaring inequalities in the social and economic spheres of societies who practice this mode of production. In essence, the bourgeois have managed to alienate the middle and lower classes from the administration of the system. Alienation, in capitalist terms, according to Marcuse is a state in which people are prevented, non-violently, from demanding for better systems of governance (27). Human development is thus, characterized by the appropriation and transformation of nature by human needs. The idea here is that human beings usually transform themselves according to the demands of the external world. In line with this argument, people do not engage in labor freely, but are rather forced by external forces to engage in labor. Marcuse perceives labor as a means of objectifying a person considering that people are always striving to engage activities that will profit them economically (ibid). As such, capitalism is seen as the primary cause of alienation in the society as it forces human beings to act. The fact that people do not realize that labor and capitalism has enslaved them explains that they do not realize the need for change, thus making them one-dimensional thinkers. As such, instead of fighting against the alienation caused by capitalism and demanding social change, one-dimensional thinkers begin to identify with those who fuel such capitalism, thus becoming complacent in their alienated state. As Marcuse writes, “…the subject which is alienated is swallowed up by its alienated existence…there is only one dimension, and it is everywhere and in all forms…” (19). Fundamentally, the working class people are lured into a consumerism system in which labor is essential for production, their artificial needs are met, and these people are slowly integrated into the capitalist society. By ensuring that the workers perceive labor as beneficial and making sure that the worker’s artificial needs are met, the capitalist society eliminates the chances of opposition. One of the catalysts of the kind of alienation caused by capitalism is technology. Marcuse argues that technology has revolutionized the mass media such that the capitalist system is able to infiltrate the social lives of its citizens (18). In essence, mediums such as radio and television have been used by the system to take capitalist ideas into the homes of citizens thus affecting their social life. These media carry consumer messages into homes thus greatly influencing the consumer habits of the audiences. When people are fed the same messages repeatedly, their decisions are influenced and they are bound to buy into the ideologies being carried by the messages. As Marcuse writes “…the mere absence of all advertising and of all indoctrination media of information and entertainment would plunge the individual into a traumatic void where he would have the chance to wander and think…” (172). The state is thus, no different than those advertisers use this mechanism to create artificial needs among the consumers and come up with products to satisfy these needs. Debord argues that in such cases “…the satisfaction of primary human needs is replaced by an uninterrupted fabrication of pseudo-needs…” (51). The media in this case, therefore, serves to lessen the ability of people to think critically and creates a superficial notion of richness which the working class see no need to oppose the system It is interesting to note that “one-dimension man” was written during the 1960s, an era which witnessed a wave of radical struggles against unpopular systems of governance. Kurlansky highlights that in 1968, “there occurred a spontaneous combustion of rebellious spirits around the world” (Introduction, xvii). The emergence of these struggles put the notion of people so alienated by the system that they become one-dimensional thinkers to doubt. Ideally, the alienation theory focused so much on the working class as the means of change and forgot to include the role of marginalized groups. In Marcuse’s opinion, all other dimensions had been eliminated by uni-dimensionality meaning that the system could not be changed since people had accepted and become complacent with the system (173). Ironically, shortly after the book was published, a revolution emerged in which demands were made for liberation. One of the revolutionists was the Black Panther, a militant party founded in 1966 in the United States (Baggins 1). The Black Panther sought to defend the minority groups against oppression by asking for equality among races and the emancipation of the working class. According to Baggins, the party embraced materialism but rejected subjugation by asserting that the workers should be responsible for controlling the production means (1). In their dialectics materialism ideology, members of the Black Panther perceived the control over means of production by the working class as the surest way of fighting against the oppressive system practiced by the then government. The fact that members of the Black Panther did not reject capitalism dealt the first serious blow to the alienation theory by Marcuse. In addition, the party used the media as one of the primary means of ensuring that their philosophy reached a wider audience. In fact Baggins writes that “…on April 25th, 1967, the first issue of The Black Panther, the party’s official news organ, goes into distribution…” (1). By the close of 1968, the party has a newspaper circulation of 100,000 copies reaching approximately 5,000 members in over 45 nationwide branches (Baggins 1). The party also combined labor, consumerism and media usage to further propagate its agenda. This assertion comes from the fact that, as Baggins writes, in 1968, the party made money to buy shotguns by selling the “…Mao’s Red Book to university students and the party also makes the book a required reading…” (Baggins 1). One of the party leaders, Huey Newton, the party’s defense minister, even appeared on television to do an interview aimed at popularizing the party. Although Marcuse writes “…one-dimensional man” in 1962, the issues discussed therein are still as relevant today as they were 50 years ago… (172). The conformity with which current societies deal with systems of governance is disturbing. In contemporary times, people have been prevented from initiating positive change by the very social mechanisms that were present in the 1960s. Essentially, Americans today have been lured into accepting democracy as the best form of governance. Democracy, in this case, creates a smooth and comfortable life where people are free to speak their views and act in line with their constitutional rights. The irony, however, is that the same people who talk about the freedoms associated with democracy are the same ones who wage wars against other countries in an effort to try and instill democracy in these countries. The sad part is that American citizens have been brainwashed into believing that democracy actually makes the world safer. As such, the freedom of the American electorate has been reduced to voting for political leaders who will ensure that democracy prevails. Deductively, therefore, Americans have become subjects to political leaders who feed them with notions like killing innocent people in Iraq will bring world peace. Debord terms such a phenomenon as an exploitative mechanism in which one part of the world considers itself superior to others (29). It is in such situations that Marcuse’s thoughts become very relevant considering that he warned against this kind of subjugation by asserting that “…free election of masters does not abolish the masters or the slaves…” (17). In this case, all those who ascribe to the idea that democracy is the best form of governance without seeing the faults in it are slaves to the system. The major problem is that since the United States is currently the only superpower, it feels justified to impose its ideologies on other countries, especially those which are economically and politically unstable. These countries thus become alienated from global politics and become subjects to the hegemony of the United States. Disturbingly, other countries such as Britain and China, which have a lot of influence on global matters, have done nothing to mitigate the abuse of power by the United States. For example, years after the United States invaded Iraq; the country is still politically and economically unstable and is, therefore, very dependent on the united states for aid. Debord perceives such a scenario as a society being freed “…but at that point it is from their liberator that they are not freed…” (40). The reality is that the current state of affairs will continue into the far future because no one is willing to challenge the United States and bring about change. Works Cited Baggins, Brian. History of the Black Panther Party. Marxists Internet Archive. 2002. Web. Debord, Guy. The Society of the Spectacle. New York: Zone books. 1994. Print. Kurlansky. Mark. 1968: The Year That Rocked The World. New York: Random House, 2004. Print. Marcuse, Herbert. One-dimensional Man: Studies In The Ideology Of Advanced Society. New York: Routledge: 2013. Print. Read More