Jacques Ellul: The Technological Society (1954/1964)
Filed under book | Tags: · bourgeoisie, critique of technology, economy, fascism, machine, politics, production, propaganda, technique, technological society, technology, totalitarianism
As insightful and wise today as it was when originally published in 1954, Jacques Ellul’s The Technological Society has become a classic in its field, laying the groundwork for all other studies of technology and society that have followed. Ellul offers a penetrating analysis of our technological civilization, showing how technology–which began innocuously enough as a servant of humankind–threatens to overthrow humanity itself in its ongoing creation of an environment that meets its own ends. No conversation about the dangers of technology and its unavoidable effects on society can begin without a careful reading of this book.
Originally published in French as La technique ou l’enjeu du siècle by Librairie Armand Colin, 1954.
Translated by John Wilkinson
With an introduction by Robert K. Merton
Publisher Vintage Books, a divisio of Random House, New York, 1964
449 pages
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Fredy Perlman: The Reproduction of Daily Life (1969-) [EN, CR, PT, FR]
Filed under book | Tags: · alienation, capitalism, economy, everyday, labour, life, production, reproduction, society, value
What sustains Capitalism? Our acceptance of everyday activities. The text offers a clear introduction to basic Marxist concepts like commodity fetishism, and surplus value; it also traces the transformation of human activity into capital. It opens with the observation “that everyday practical activity of tribesmen reproduces, or perpetuates, a tribe.”
Publisher: Black & Red, Detroit, 1969, 24 pages. Reprinted in Anything Can Happen, October 1992, Phoenix Press, PO Box 824 London N1 9DL.
Croatian edition: Reprodukcija svakodnevnog života. Translated by Aleksa Golijanin, 2003. Anti-copyright.
Portuguese edition: A Reprodução do Quotidiano. Translated from Treason Press edition (2004), in February 2009, Edições Versus Capitalismus. Anti-copyright.
French edition: La Reproduction de la Vie Quotidienne. Published by Ravage Éditions, Paris, September 2011. Anti-copyright.
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Pierre Klossowski: Living Currency (1970–) [FR, ES, EN]
Filed under book | Tags: · body, economy, life, philosophy, production, sadism, sexuality, value
“Essai littéraire et philosophique. Depuis le milieu du siècle dernier, des anathèmes ont été lancés au nom de la vie affective contre les ravages de la civilisation industrielle. Imputer aux moyens de production une action pernicieuse sur les affects, c’est, sous prétexte de dénoncer son emprise démoralisante, lui reconnaître une puissance morale considérable. D’où lui vient cette puissance ? ” Telle est la question qui traverse de part en part cet essai. L’auteur interroge d’autres écrivains en les citant, illustrant ainsi sa propre pensée. Sade, mais aussi Fourrier, Stendhal, Nietzsche s’expriment sur le processus même de l’émotion voluptueuse lorsque le corps est perçu comme monnaie vivante, objet de troc ou vecteur fantasmatique.”
“In Living Currency Klossowski draws a parallel between mass industrial production and sadism, between human bodies and currency. He analyzes the impact of industry and exchange on emotional life, and in so doing challenges several fundamental concepts of sexuality and value.”
Published in French as La Monnaie vivante, Editions Joëlle Losfield, Paris, 1970.
English edition
Translated by Jordan Levinson
Self-published, May 2012
32 pages
via translator
Commentary: Graham Joncas.
2008 Tate London exhibition inspired by the essay
La monnaie vivante (French, 1970, RTF)
La moneda viviente (Spanish, trans. Axel Gasquet, 1998)
Living Curency (English, trans. Jordan Levinson, 2012)