Herbert Marcuse

Herbert Marcuse was a German–American <a href="/facts/Philosopher/Hyvzc54m">philosopher</a>, <a href="/facts/Social_critic/k5CxJjE4">social critic</a>, and <a href="/facts/Political_philosophy/JuLBNdAX">political theorist</a>, associated with the <a href="/facts/Frankfurt_School/g0h4LpEH">Frankfurt School</a> of <a href="/facts/Critical_theory/2R9f1DNe">critical theory</a>. Born in <a href="/facts/Berlin/pMTIRNXK">Berlin</a>, Marcuse studied at Berlin's <a href="/facts/Humboldt_University_of_Berlin/QE2lhhkd">Friedrich Wilhelm University</a> and then at <a href="/facts/University_of_Freiburg/38naUTYA">Freiburg</a>, where he received his Ph.D. He was a prominent figure in the Frankfurt-based <a href="/facts/University_of_Frankfurt_Institute_for_Social_Research/caWy3K3B">Institute for Social Research</a>, which later became known as the Frankfurt School. In his written works, he criticized <a href="/facts/Capitalism/FbPc6TTw">capitalism</a>, modern technology, <a href="/facts/Soviet_Communism/D2SLaJGA">Soviet Communism</a>, and <a href="/facts/Popular_culture/cKj0ho02">popular culture</a>, arguing that they represent new forms of <a href="/facts/Social_control/TaKTLlr9">social control</a>.
Between 1943 and 1950, Marcuse worked in <a href="/facts/U.S._government/VJCxUaf7">U.S. government</a> service for the <a href="/facts/Office_of_Strategic_Services/5dHfvPFc">Office of Strategic Services</a> (predecessor of the <a href="/facts/Central_Intelligence_Agency/U7urmQYL">Central Intelligence Agency</a>) where he criticized the <a href="/facts/Ideology_of_the_Communist_Party_of_the_Soviet_Union/D2SLaJGA">ideology of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union</a> in the book <a href="/facts/Soviet_Marxism%3a_A_Critical_Analysis/dauv66l4">Soviet Marxism: A Critical Analysis</a> (1958). In the 1960s and the 1970s, he became known as the pre-eminent theorist of the <a href="/facts/New_Left/hpCz4K8u">New Left</a> and the student movements of <a href="/facts/West_Germany/oCydk787">West Germany</a>, <a href="/facts/French_Fifth_Republic/aVtg3Wlb">France</a>, and the <a href="/facts/United_States/P0sCdLe5">United States</a>; some consider him "the Father of the New Left".
His best-known works are <a href="/facts/Eros_and_Civilization/VUbKuu4Y">Eros and Civilization</a> (1955) and <a href="/facts/One-Dimensional_Man/p6H9r4UU">One-Dimensional Man</a> (1964). His <a href="/facts/Marxism/sgnnLfax">Marxist</a> scholarship inspired many radical intellectuals and political activists in the 1960s and 1970s, both in the United States and internationally.

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Herbert Marcuse