How the fuck does he explain the phenomenon whereby I feel more alienated by dense & lively social gatherings ( and frankly always have)
If you haven't already, listen to and read Guy Debord's Society of the Spectacle. He explores core Marxist ideas like alienation and commodity fetishism within the context of a modern hyper-reality where imagery replaces genuine experience. That merging of psychoanalysis and marketing in the 20th century enabled capitalism to do what Catholics did using grand cathedrals and illiterate peasants. Society evolves to mediate social relationships through that imagery and the commodity fetishism underlying it, without actually doing anything about the alienation you feel because it's a superstructural cancer. We see modern manifestations of this in things like social media, celebrity figures, fandoms, social scenes, subcultures, political parties, corporate families, non-democratic organisations, memes, political influence, and consumerism. Sure you can participate in any of those things but you'll still feel hollow because it's the system offering you a commodified version of Maslow's hierarchy of needs that only gives you the image of that need being met. Philosophically I can divide my life between pre- and post-Debord as much as I can pre- and post-Marx.
If you haven't already, listen to and read Guy Debord's Society of the Spectacle. He explores core Marxist ideas like alienation and commodity fetishism within the context of a modern hyper-reality where imagery replaces genuine experience. That merging of psychoanalysis and marketing in the 20th century enabled capitalism to do what Catholics did using grand cathedrals and illiterate peasants. Society evolves to mediate social relationships through that imagery and the commodity fetishism underlying it, without actually doing anything about the alienation you feel because it's a superstructural cancer. We see modern manifestations of this in things like social media, celebrity figures, fandoms, social scenes, subcultures, political parties, corporate families, non-democratic organisations, memes, political influence, and consumerism. Sure you can participate in any of those things but you'll still feel hollow because it's the system offering you a commodified version of Maslow's hierarchy of needs that only gives you the image of that need being met. Philosophically I can divide my life between pre- and post-Debord as much as I can pre- and post-Marx.