The Relevance of an Untimely Book: One-Dimensional Man, Critical Theory, and Radical Movements Fifty Years Later

THIS ESSAY DISCUSSES THE RELEVANCE OF HERBERT MARCUSE'S ONE DIMENSIONAL MAN FOR CONTEMPORARY RADICAL POLITICS. IT APPROACHES THE TOPIC FROM AN UNCONVENTIONAL PERSPECTIVE: THE UNTIMELY NATURE OF THE BOOK, I.E., ITS BEING CONCEIVED IN THE FORTIES AND PUBLISHED IN THE SIXTIES. ITS RELEVANCE FOR A POLITICAL THEORY AND PRAXIS OF GLOBAL RADICAL MOVEMENTS IS NOT TO BE FOUND IN ITS MAIN CONCEPTS AND CATEGORIES, BUT ON ITS SHORTCUTS AND LIMITS, ESPECIALLY THOSE RELATED TO POLITICAL SUBJECTIVITY.