As a member of the Institut für Sozialforschung, Herbert Marcuse wrote in 1955 Eros and Civilization in which he applied an elaborated and reformulated freudian meta-psychoanalytical perspective on the contemporary society, which both Freud and Marcuse had diagnosed as sick. Marcuse’s overall ambition was to seek man’s anamnestic abilities to negate contemporary capitalist society, re-structure the organization of products and reduce alienated labor and thereby liberate man from the most agonizing doing in life – living a life as an instrument. This political revolution Marcuse argues, would liberate man’s powerful subconscious energies stemming from Eros and mankind would no longer function as an alienated instrument. However, for the revolutionary agents to be conscious of their position, the mind of the human being must be transformed and only then a true negation of the prevailing system is possible. In his reading of Freud, Marcuse finds in the subconscious part of the mind a specific part that´s free from reality´s repression of the mind – fantasy. This essay seeks to illustrate and analyze how fantasy, alongside man’s ability of remembrance, has the ability to reform the consciousness of men, negate the structure of living imposed on them by capitalist domestic rationality and thereby formulate a new non-repressive society free from surplus repression and alienation. The overall purpose of this thesis is to explore and shed light on how the complex dynamic relation between memory and fantasy can achieve an intersubjective formulation of a new non-repressive society, free from the hegemony which is capitalist rationality.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:26:35Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2009-02-26Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T19:54:41Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 santos_gs_me_assis.pdf: 782615 bytes, checksum: bd8d85ec895c70b04e9de4d660887bb6 (MD5) / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) / A partir da segunda metade da década de 1940 um novo capitalismo configurava-se nos Estados Unidos da América. Com o início da Segunda Guerra Mundial, uma significativa parcela da tecnologia de guerra foi aprimorada à produção de bens. O grande investimento de capital no desenvolvimento de tecnologia requintada e mão-de-obra especializada constituíram-se na matriz geradora de uma gama de mudanças que atingiram aquela sociedade econômica. Dessas mudanças advêm a necessidade de organização da grande empresa e a previsão dos preços da mercadoria e da sua demanda, para evitar que os altos investimentos estivessem à mercê da instabilidade do mercado. Na esteira dessas mudanças e necessidades a iniciativa privada estabelece uma aliança econômica com o Estado que fornece a regulação de salários e preços e promove o desenvolvimento de um maciço aparelho de persuasão e incentivo associado à venda de mercadorias. Todas essas mudanças foram alvo de muitos debates, críticas e discussões. Dentre os mais importantes trabalhos sobre o moderno capitalismo norte-americano, destacamos as obras Eros e Civilização e a Ideologia da Sociedade Industrial de Herbert Marcuse. A presente pesquisa objetivou analisar essas duas obras e identificar o caráter de originalidade de suas críticas a sociedade norte-americana enquanto produto desse novo capitalismo da década de 1950. Constatou-se que os métodos e caminhos que Marcuse utilizou para construir seu pensamento, produziu um olhar próprio sobre aquela sociedade econômica e projetou esse autor e suas teorias nos mais diferentes meios sociais e em dimensões mundiais. / After the second half of 1940’s a new form of Capitalism took shape in the United States of America. And because of World War II, a considerable share of technology developed during the war was improved and directed towards wealth gain. The tremendous sums of capital invested in high technology and specialized labor became the matrix responsible for generating changes that affected American society throughout. From these changes came the need of organized enterprise and prevision of products costs and their demand, so the market instability would not jeopardize all investments. In the midst of all needs and changes private financial initiative forms alliance with the State, the responsible for regulating wages and product prices, thus promoting the development of a massive tool of persuasion and incentives of products selling. All changes became the main target for intricate debates, criticism, and arguments. Among the most important published works dealing with modern capitalism in the United States is Eros and Civilization, and, Studies in the Ideology of Advanced Industrial Society, both by Herbert Marcuse. This research project aimed to analyze both of Marcuse publishing’s and identify the body of originality of his own views on North American society as a product of this new form of capitalism in the 1950’s. It is notorious and established that all methods and paths Marcuse built to reach his ways of thinking gave an entire new perspective on American society, projecting the author and his theories into the most various social niches worldwide.

Orientador: Milton Carlos Costa / Banca: Célia Reis Camargo / Banca: Carmem Lúcia Gomes de Salis / Resumo: A partir da segunda metade da década de 1940 um novo capitalismo configurava-se nos Estados Unidos da América. Com o início da Segunda Guerra Mundial, uma significativa parcela da tecnologia de guerra foi aprimorada à produção de bens. O grande investimento de capital no desenvolvimento de tecnologia requintada e mão-de-obra especializada constituíram-se na matriz geradora de uma gama de mudanças que atingiram aquela sociedade econômica. Dessas mudanças advêm a necessidade de organização da grande empresa e a previsão dos preços da mercadoria e da sua demanda, para evitar que os altos investimentos estivessem à mercê da instabilidade do mercado. Na esteira dessas mudanças e necessidades a iniciativa privada estabelece uma aliança econômica com o Estado que fornece a regulação de salários e preços e promove o desenvolvimento de um maciço aparelho de persuasão e incentivo associado à venda de mercadorias. Todas essas mudanças foram alvo de muitos debates, críticas e discussões. Dentre os mais importantes trabalhos sobre o moderno capitalismo norte-americano, destacamos as obras Eros e Civilização e a Ideologia da Sociedade Industrial de Herbert Marcuse. A presente pesquisa objetivou analisar essas duas obras e identificar o caráter de originalidade de suas críticas a sociedade norte-americana enquanto produto desse novo capitalismo da década de 1950. Constatou-se que os métodos e caminhos que Marcuse utilizou para construir seu pensamento, produziu um olhar próprio sobre aquela sociedade econômica e projetou esse autor e suas teorias nos mais diferentes meios sociais e em dimensões mundiais. / Abstract: After the second half of 1940's a new form of Capitalism took shape in the United States of America. And because of World War II, a considerable share of technology developed during the war was improved and directed towards wealth gain. The tremendous sums of capital invested in high technology and specialized labor became the matrix responsible for generating changes that affected American society throughout. From these changes came the need of organized enterprise and prevision of products costs and their demand, so the market instability would not jeopardize all investments. In the midst of all needs and changes private financial initiative forms alliance with the State, the responsible for regulating wages and product prices, thus promoting the development of a massive tool of persuasion and incentives of products selling. All changes became the main target for intricate debates, criticism, and arguments. Among the most important published works dealing with modern capitalism in the United States is Eros and Civilization, and, Studies in the Ideology of Advanced Industrial Society, both by Herbert Marcuse. This research project aimed to analyze both of Marcuse publishing's and identify the body of originality of his own views on North American society as a product of this new form of capitalism in the 1950's. It is notorious and established that all methods and paths Marcuse built to reach his ways of thinking gave an entire new perspective on American society, projecting the author and his theories into the most various social niches worldwide. / Mestre