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Freedom and Constraint in Productivist Society
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 July 2024
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The following reflections center round a current of thought and a way of action which an increasing number of our contemporaries recognise as the great conformity of our age, namely the cult of economic growth. Even thirty years ago this was a partial truth; today it seems to be the favorite anxiety of those political forces endeavoring to be modern regardless of the philosophies to which they refer. Focussed as it is on the acceleration of material progress, is this “productivist” anxiety not the unifying idea of a world in a state of fusion? A world that is becoming more and more indifferent because of its traditional divergences? And the pragmatism of this idea, when translated into equations, suits all those for whom man is equal to his technical strength and for whom progress corresponds to a quantum of accountable acquisitions…
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- Copyright © 1968 Fédération Internationale des Sociétés de Philosophie / International Federation of Philosophical Societies (FISP)
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1 These reflections are the summary of several lectures given by the author between January and June, 1968, in Paris (Ecole pratique des hautes études) and Geneva (Institut universitaire des hautes études internationales).
2 "The angle of attack is that Society accepts technological novelties and has to adjust itself to them," remarks Bernard de Jouvenel about decisions referring to research and development (Analyse et Prévisions, No. 4, IV (1967), p. 680).
3 One-dimensional man, chap. 6. Let us specify that Marcuse is talking of "technological" rationality; this is where he finds a logic of domination.
4 Military praxeology, just as certain attempts aimed at formalising political theory, would however be at the limit of this ideal.
5 This problem was clearly illuminated by the work of two economist-statis ticians who were given the job in 1953 by the O.E.C.E. of estimating in com parable prices the consumptions of the major nations of the western hemisphere. (Cf. Gilbert M. and Kravis I., An International Comparison of National Pro ducts, 1954, Paris.)
6 Cf. his article in Economie et Humanisme, N. 178, and more particularly the passage on Planification and Utopia (p. 42). See also Marcuse, op. cit. p. 221-222 passim.
7 Called by Karl Polanyi the "substantive definition" of economy.
8 See for example the work of Jean Fourastié: Le Grand espoir du XXeme siècle, and particularly the tables on pages 26 to 30.
9 On this subject see Jacques Austruy's stimulating work: Le Scandale du développement, ed. M. Rivière, 1965.
10 For the following thesis I am deeply indebted to W.A. Weisskopf, whose analyses relating to the presuppositions of economic thought are the point of departure of these observations. Cf. for example his article: "The Dialectics of Abundance," in Diogenes, No. 57, Spring 1967.
11 "Everyone wants to be equal to other people and at the same time raise himself above them" (by the possession of things): "this is the great tragedy that is threatening the relationships of people in a world of objects." (Georg Bergler, Werbung und Gesellschaft. Unpublished text in French.)
12 The space race is practically the only exception to this rule. It represents the only massive use of productive forces that was invented by a "non-leader"; and a rivalry on equal terms has developed from it. One can still conjecture on the direction that this race will take.
13 Cf. our study, "Du socialisme au productivisme," in Esprit, No. 2, 1968.
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