- Born 1898 in Berlin, well-to-do family
- served in WWI; not combat, but "wiping horses' asses" for
infantry in Berlin (pre-automobile age!)
- participated briefly in 1918 German revolution which brought an end
to WWI
- 1918-1922: graduate school in German literature, Ph.D. Univ. of Freiburg
in 1922
- 1922-1928 worked as a bookseller in Berlin
- 1928: my father born in Berlin; Herbert went to Freiburg as an assistant
to the philosophy professor Martin Heidegger. (One of my dissertation
advisors (M. Geyer) turns out to have been Heidegger's nephew)
- Project: critique of existing Marxism as rigid orthodoxy; need to
focus on the INDIVIDUAL
- concern with individual liberation, personal well being, personal
contribution to social transformation
- 1933: Institut fur Sozialforschung (Institute for Social Research)
in Frankfurt
- develop new theory of state and economy, beyond what Marx had
foreseen
- use of Freud; later (after move to US) called CRITICAL THEORY
- Heidegger (120% Nazi) warned him; fled Germany to Geneva, Paris, finally
NYC
- December 1942: joined the Office of War Information as a senior analyst
in the Bureau of Intelligence
- report "Presentation of the Enemy:" proposed ways that
the mass media of the Allied countries could present images of German
fascism
- March 1943: Office of Secret Services (OSS), identified Nazi and anti-nazi
people and groups,
drew up plan for "denazification"
- 1945-1951: worked at US State Dept. after OSS dissolved
- 1952-53, Columbia University; 1954-55 Harvard. Grant to study Soviet
Marxism (COLD WAR)
- 1955: Eros and Civilization: synthesis of Marx and
Freud, sketched non-repressive society
- anticipated values of 1960s counterculture (UTOPIAN VISION)
- 1958: Soviet Marxism. argued that the Soviet Union was not
the realization of Marx' theory.
Pointed to "liberalizing trends" ultimately realized under
Gorbachev in 1980s
- 1958-65: Prof. of Political Science at Brandeis (memories of visits
of grandpa's house in Newton, Mass.)
- 1964 most important work: One Dimensional Man.
- Critiqued both capitalist and communist societies
- "advanced industrial society" creates false needs
- MASS MEDIA, ADVERTISING, INDUSTRIAL MANAGEMENT:
integrate individuals into the existing system of production and
consumption
- championed non-integrated forces of minorities, outsiders, radical
intelligentsia
- 1965: essay "Repressive Tolerance" in book
Critique of Pure Tolerance (w/ Barrington Moore)
- Brandeis didn't renew his contract, was recruited by UC San Diego--already
67 years old!!
- retired in 1976
- 1960s: achieved world renown as "the guru of the New Left "
- 1969: Essay on Liberation (gave me a
copy in 1977 when I was studying German)
- 1972: Counterrevolution and Revolt
- 1970s: traveled widely, work was often discussed in the mass media
- became one of few American intellectuals to gain wide international
attention.
- 1978: The Aesthetic Dimension offered "answer"
to where non-manipulated consciousness might come from: culture and
"high art," which often contained powerful critiques of the
status quo
- Never an advocate of violent demonstrations, esp. on campuses: US
universities (called them "oases of free speech")
Student movements should try to protect this citadel, and radicalize
the departments from within (faculty complacency) |