You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
marxistsupernanny 's review for:
The Society of the Spectacle
by Guy Debord
Society of the Spectacle may be considered a classic in the modern Marxist cannon. It is composed of about 221 aphorisms divided between 9 chapters:
1. Separation Perfected
2. The Commodity as Spectacle
3. Unity and Division within Appearances
4. The Proletariat as Subject and Representation
5. Time and History
6. Spectacular Time
7. Environmental Planning
8. Negation and Consumption in the Cultural Sphere
9. Ideology in Material Form
Within these chapters, Guy Debord lays out his foundational thesis of the spectacle which is “not a collection of images; rather a social relationship between people that is mediated by images” (Appr. #4). At his time, Debord knew nothing of social media. Therefore, the images that mediated social relationships (as commodities) were most likely that of film, television, print advertisements, and art-as-commodity.
In terms of popular understanding, chapters one through three are the most influential chapters of the book. Just as Marx’s starting point in Capital is the Commodity, Debord’s starting point is his own historical position when images have become commodities. For this reason, it is vital for readers to have at least a basic understanding of Marx’s theory of the Commodity, as it is discussed in detail.
But the ‘Commodity as Spectacle’ is merely a starting point! In chapter 4, Debord continues to leverage interesting criticisms of 20th century Marxist projects, anarchism, social democracy, and bourgeoisie production. Chapters 5 and 6 are basically a genealogy of time which shows how by converting time into value, capitalism has continued to alienate humans from their lived experience. In the later chapters, we find many of Debord’s positive and negative proposals.
Negative: To eradicate the conditions that abstract time, and separate us from our lives experience.
Positive: To create an immediate bond of theory and practice in the form of direct democracy and workers councils.
Is this book worth reading? Yes. However, readers should be aware that Debord’s dialectal writing style often makes concepts more challenging then they need to be. With that being said, this rigor is what makes Debord so enjoyable. For me, it’s not a boook you read once, but one that you constantly return to.
1. Separation Perfected
2. The Commodity as Spectacle
3. Unity and Division within Appearances
4. The Proletariat as Subject and Representation
5. Time and History
6. Spectacular Time
7. Environmental Planning
8. Negation and Consumption in the Cultural Sphere
9. Ideology in Material Form
Within these chapters, Guy Debord lays out his foundational thesis of the spectacle which is “not a collection of images; rather a social relationship between people that is mediated by images” (Appr. #4). At his time, Debord knew nothing of social media. Therefore, the images that mediated social relationships (as commodities) were most likely that of film, television, print advertisements, and art-as-commodity.
In terms of popular understanding, chapters one through three are the most influential chapters of the book. Just as Marx’s starting point in Capital is the Commodity, Debord’s starting point is his own historical position when images have become commodities. For this reason, it is vital for readers to have at least a basic understanding of Marx’s theory of the Commodity, as it is discussed in detail.
But the ‘Commodity as Spectacle’ is merely a starting point! In chapter 4, Debord continues to leverage interesting criticisms of 20th century Marxist projects, anarchism, social democracy, and bourgeoisie production. Chapters 5 and 6 are basically a genealogy of time which shows how by converting time into value, capitalism has continued to alienate humans from their lived experience. In the later chapters, we find many of Debord’s positive and negative proposals.
Negative: To eradicate the conditions that abstract time, and separate us from our lives experience.
Positive: To create an immediate bond of theory and practice in the form of direct democracy and workers councils.
Is this book worth reading? Yes. However, readers should be aware that Debord’s dialectal writing style often makes concepts more challenging then they need to be. With that being said, this rigor is what makes Debord so enjoyable. For me, it’s not a boook you read once, but one that you constantly return to.