An all-day conference, Sept. 29th, 9am – 5pm
Butler Library, Room 523
Free and open to the public. No reservations required.
“A comfortable, smooth, reasonable, democratic unfreedom prevails in advanced industrial civilization…” Thus begins the opening chapter of Herbert Marcuse’s landmark study of modern ideology, One-Dimensional Man, first published in 1964.
On Sept. 29th, the Rare Book & Manuscript Library will be hosting an all-day interdisciplinary conference to commemorate and discuss the 50th anniversary of a book that influenced critical theorists and social activists around the world.
An international array of speakers will discuss Marcuse’s legacy for a diversity of fields, including gender, labor, politics, and haute cuisine.
Keynote Panel. Marcuse and Critical Theory: Individuals, Movements, Moments. 5:15pm, Butler Library Room 523
- “One-Dimensionality and Organized Labor in America,” Craig R. Christiansen, University of Kansas.
- “One Dimensional Man 50 years On: Neoliberalism and the ‘Historical Fate of Bourgeois Democracy,’” Terry Maley, York University.
- “Gender and the Radical Potential at the Moment of Consumption: Marcuse’s Notion of Delivering of the Goods Through a Gendered Lens,” Patricia McDermott, York University
- “The Relevance of an Untimely Book: One-Dimensional Man, Critical Theory and Radical Movements in the Global Age,” Raffaele Laudani, University of Bologna.
- Closing Remarks, Douglas Kellner, UCLA.
The complete conference program is available here: One-Dimensional Man at Fifty Conference Program