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Journal ArticleDOI

One dimensional man

01 May 1965-Philosophical Books (Blackwell Publishing Ltd)-Vol. 6, Iss: 2, pp 17-20
About: This article is published in Philosophical Books.The article was published on 1965-05-01. It has received 2842 citations till now.
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors provided a critical exegesis of Alain Touraine's recent work on social movements in advanced industrial societies, focusing on his discussions of the potential role of incipient social movement in shaping social change and discussed his novel articulation of an applied sociology designed to assist, not social integration, but societal transformation.
Abstract: Given various difficulties contained in the corpus of Alain Touraine, his work demands a close textual analysis. This paper provides a critical exegesis of his recent work on social movements in advanced industrial societies. After a review of Touraine's understanding of the particular contours of 'post-industrial society', it focuses on his discussions of the potential role of incipient social movements in shaping social change The paper proceeds to discuss his novel articulation of an applied sociology - which he terms 'sociological intervention' - designed to assist, not social integration, but societal transformation. Since this project is a work in progress. no definitive conclusions are drawn; however, a number of central unanswered questions are posed.

27 citations


Cites result from "One dimensional man"

  • ...In contrast to the ’one-dimensionality’ thesis of Marcuse (1964) or the more recent ’artificial negativity’ thesis of Paul Piccone (1978), Touraine does not think that critics of society are inevitably consigned to challenging the social order only at its fringes (1976:220)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Organizational rationality is concerned with the selection of preferred behavior alternatives in terms of some system of values whereby the consequences of behavior can be evaluated as mentioned in this paper. This instrumental view of rationality implies that organizations consciously select a set of means to achieve predetermined ends with optimal or at least satisficing results.
Abstract: Organizational rationality "is concerned with the selection of preferred behavior alternatives in terms of some system of values whereby the consequences of behavior can be evaluated" [1 . P. 95]. This instrumental view of rationality implies that organizations consciously select a set of means to achieve predetermined ends with optimal or at least satisficing results. In this view, organizations are presumed to be technical, rational instruments designed to mobilize efforts of their members toward fulfillment of predetermined goals. Organizational actions show repeated occurrences of patently nonrational behaviors. The assumption that organizations are rational entities is an unnecessary and mystifying limitation that obscures important aspects of organizing. This assumption of traditional organizational analysis has been criticized, and needs further exploration [2]. Organizational actions are, from our perspective, best understood in terms of a set of organizational problems of different meaning and consequences for different organizational stakeholders. Problems are

27 citations


Cites background from "One dimensional man"

  • ...This aspect of social rationality has been stressed in the critical theory of the Frankfurt school [41-45]....

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Journal ArticleDOI
Ryan Gunderson1
TL;DR: The Frankfurt School's metatheory can help environmental sociologists denaturalize human-nature relations that appear fixed, and explain how their theories of science and technology transcend the debate of whether science or technology are harmful to or helpful for the environment.
Abstract: In a two-article project, I demonstrate that the first-generation Frankfurt School’s critical theory can conceptually inform sociological examinations of societal–environmental relations. This second article clarifies and systematizes the theories of Adorno, Horkheimer, and Marcuse in the context of current debates and issues in environmental sociology: (1) the constructionism/realism debate and its relation to the critique of ideology; (2) the role of science and technology in human–nature relations; and (3) how society might bring itself into a sustainable and ethical relationship with the environment. I argue the Frankfurt School’s metatheory can help environmental sociologists denaturalize human–nature relations that appear fixed; explain how their theories of science and technology transcend the debate of whether science and technology are harmful to or helpful for the environment; and show that the underpinning normative goal of early critical theory was to reconcile human–nature relations. In addit...

27 citations


Cites background from "One dimensional man"

  • ...For Marcuse ([1960] 1989), the complete transformation of nature through technical mastery – again, without substantive end goals – created a ‘technological rationality’ that distilled ‘pure’ instrumentality (cf. Marcuse, 1964, 158)....

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  • ...For the Frankfurt School, capitalism was inherently antagonistic toward this goal (see the first companion article), so the possibility of reconciliation presupposed a substantively rational, socialist society capable of combining central planning and direct democracy (Marcuse 1964, 252)....

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  • ...…from the profit motive and pure instrumentality, could protect and foster nature rather than dominate it because, in short, society would have the opportunity set new substantive goals (cf. Horkheimer [1932] 1972), which would also alter the construction of new technologies (Marcuse 1964, 232)....

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  • ...This is related to Marcuse’s distinction between a repressive mastery and a liberating mastery of nature, the latter ‘involves the reduction of misery, violence, and cruelty’ that follows the development of a new aesthetic attitude (Marcuse 1964, 236)....

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  • ...(Marcuse 1964, 240) Similarly, the aesthetic morality ‘insist[s] on cleaning the earth from the very material garbage produced by the spirit of capitalism, and from this spirit itself’ (Marcuse 1969, 28)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The most recent Dictionary of Literary Biography devotes two large volumes to sixty-seven beat writers, including Neal Cassady, Herbert Huncke, Gary Snyder, Gregory Corso, John Clellon Holmes, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Philip Lamantia, Peter Orlovsky, Michael McClure, and Philip Whalen.
Abstract: For the beat generation of the 1940s and 1950s, dissertation time is here. Magazine and newspaper critics have gotten in their jabs. Now scholars are starting to analyze the literature and legacy of the beat writers. In the last few years biographers have lined up to interpret the lives of Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and William Burroughs, and publishers have rushed into print a host of beat journals, letters, memoirs, and anthologies. The most recent Dictionary of Literary Biography devotes two large volumes to sixty-seven beat writers, including Neal Cassady, Herbert Huncke, Gary Snyder, Gregory Corso, John Clellon Holmes, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Philip Lamantia, Peter Orlovsky, Michael McClure, and Philip Whalen.

27 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine the imagery of masters and slaves as a guide to the psychological dynamics of authority relationships in modern organizations and demonstrate the continuing influence of the "irrational" in organizational life.

27 citations

References
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined accounts of travelers in terms of Erving Goffman's front versus back distinction and found that tourists try to enter back regions of the places they visit because these regions are associated with intimacy of relations and authenticity of experiences.
Abstract: The problem of false consciousness and its relationship to the social structure of tourist establishments is analyzed. Accounts of travelers are examined in terms of Erving Goffman's front versus back distinction. It is found that tourists try to enter back regions of the places they visit because these regions are associated with intimacy of relations and authenticity of experiences. It is also found that tourist settings are arrenged to produce the impression that a back region has been entered even when this is not the case. In tourist settings, between the front and the back there is a series of special spaces designed to accommodate tourists and to support their beliefs in the authenticity of their experiences. Goffman's front-back dichotomy is shown to be ideal poles of a continuum, or a variable.

2,627 citations

Book
01 Jan 1995
TL;DR: Casey as discussed by the authors explored the effects of contemporary practices of work on the self and found that changes currently occuring in the world of work are part of the vast social and cultural changes that are challenging the meta trends of modern industrialism.
Abstract: Despite recent interest in the effects of restructuring and redesigning the work place, the link between individual identity and structural change has usually been asserted rather than demonstrated. Through an extensive review of data from field work in a multi-national corporation Catherine Casey changes this. She knows that changes currently occuring in the world of work are part of the vast social and cultural changes that are challenging the meta trends of modern industrialism. These events affect what people do everyday, and they are altering relations among ourselves and with the physical world. This valuable book is not only a critical analysis of the transformations occurring in the world of work, but an exploration of the effects of contemporary practices of work on the self.

540 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
01 Jun 2009-City
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors interpret critical urban theory with reference to four mutually interconnected elements: its theoretical character; its reflexivity; its critique of instrumental reason; and its emphasis on the disjuncture between the actual and the possible.
Abstract: What is critical urban theory? While this phrase is often used in a descriptive sense, to characterize the tradition of post‐1968 leftist or radical urban studies, I argue that it also has determinate social–theoretical content. To this end, building on the work of several Frankfurt School social philosophers, this paper interprets critical theory with reference to four, mutually interconnected elements—its theoretical character; its reflexivity; its critique of instrumental reason; and its emphasis on the disjuncture between the actual and the possible. On this basis, a brief concluding section considers the status of urban questions within critical social theory. In the early 21st century, I argue, each of the four key elements within critical social theory requires sustained engagement with contemporary patterns of capitalist urbanization. Under conditions of increasingly generalized, worldwide urbanization, the project of critical social theory and that of critical urban theory have been intertwined a...

356 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors provide an overview of the key images of identity in organizations found in the research literature, including self-doubters, strugglers, surfers, storytellers, strategists, stencils and soldiers.
Abstract: This article provides an overview of the key images of identity in organizations found in the research literature. Image refers to the overall idea or conceptualization, capturing how researchers relate to — and shape — a phenomenon. Seven images are suggested: self-doubters, strugglers, surfers, storytellers, strategists, stencils and soldiers. These refer to how the individual is metaphorically understood in terms of identity, that is, how the researcher (research text) captures the individual producing a sense of self. The article aims to facilitate orientation — or encourage productive confusion — within the field, encourage reflexivity and sharpen analytic choices through awareness of options for how to conceptualize self-identity constructions.

289 citations