Marcuse - clarifying the Notion of Repressive Tolerance

 Marcuse - Clarifying the Notion of Repressive Tolerance

For Marcuse, particular representations appear universal in mass communications because of their capitalist structure and “official” framing. There are few formal blocks on content since our society is not considered fascist. However, there is a lack of detail, of explanation, of credibility, and differences are absorbed under dominant interpretations, creating an illusion of freedom and truth. Contrasting ideas, oppositions, are cancelled in a ‘higher unification,’ which promotes a one-dimensional public language which unfortunately is full of insults. Marcuse’s “Repressive Tolerance explains how the logic of a neutral marketplace of ideas, like the fiction of a free market, puts minority perspec­tives at a disadvantage - although any oppositional group is formally ‘free to deliberate and discuss, to speak and to assemble,’ it is ‘left harmless and helpless in the face of the overwhelming majority, which militates against qualitative social change. Next to dominant ideas, non-conformist thought seems incomprehensible or becomes compromised as it is evaluated through one-dimensional ‘public language.’ Opposing ideas are incorporated into that which they oppose (for example, a demand for peace is countered by the idea that the war aims to create peace), and pluralist tolerance is nothing but this incorporation.’



The media today no longer follow a ‘balance’ value where destructive statements are ‘balanced’ by their criticism - the original meaning of repressive tolerance. Instead, media today are data-driven by aggregates of followers which are influenced by political parties and lobbyists: corporate news. Nonetheless, “tolerance” refers to cultural superiority that depicts opposition to right-wing populist positions that blame outsiders for social problems as an enemy narrative.  The actual domination and exploitation between the right-wing populists and the so-called outsiders is ignored.  This is a one-dimensional discourse pushed by media which barely represents the opposition, that is, fails to interpret and explain populist mentality, much less criticisms. Repressive tolerance permits extremist and prejudiced views under a veil of neutrality by failing to address militant mentalities and hate-groups.

Class frames our ideological background - work and sacrifice are not intrinsic to human experience, but depend on social circumstances. For Marcuse, the current reality principle ‘applies to the brute fact of scarcity which is caused by the organization of scarcity, and the specific existential attitude enforced by this organization.’ Taibbi denies scarcity and by extension, I presume, believes that prices are caused by supply and demand. The scarcity of non-service jobs (80% of jobs are service jobs), of affordable housing, affordable health care not to mention rational healthcare, nutritious food in contrast to ‘corporate food,’ and social networks where competition and domination are not prominent. The “reality” principle, says Marcuse, stops us from seeking greater fulfillment even though technologi­cal developments could enable it, and is thus an ideological construct serving particular class interests. 

The question is whether the existing social organi­zation can be repurposed towards the needs of the deprived and exploited, sometimes called pluralism or inclusion. The material needs of the subordinated reflects like a mirror the “necessity” of dominant social priorities. ‘Cultural or social revolution’ in the US demands individual rights and freedoms but fails to enact radical change. The lack of individual freedom and the violation of inalienable rights, the channeling and conditioning pushed by the social system and local social networks cause individuals to seek mostly negative freedom: freedom from.