Bourgeois Society and Bourgeois Science
Bourgeois Society and Bourgeois Science

Summary/Abstract: The present period is marked by a crisis in both society and sociology, and our task is to assess critically the existing conditions of man's life and try to alter them. It seems that through technical devices and modern forms of manipulation the »realm of necessity« is penetrating into all pores of contemporary man's life. Man continually adds to his material possessions and uses a growing number of devices that ought to ensure for him a more leisurely life. However, instead of technical civilization serving man, he himself becomes its slave. The acquisition of material goods, to which he is slave, is becoming the object of his life. And just as he produces goods in conditions which are inconsistent with his nature, man as a consumer does not satisfy his human needs in a human manner. This seems to contain the paradox of man's present situation: never in human history has technical and social advance been so marked as it is at present, but at the same time, neither has the power of the social forces alienated from man ever been greater.

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