Research Article

Interpreting the Frankfurt School and Herbert Marcuse’s Approach from the Perspective of Sociology of Communication

Volume: 9 Number: 3 September 19, 2025
TR EN

Interpreting the Frankfurt School and Herbert Marcuse’s Approach from the Perspective of Sociology of Communication

Abstract

Herbert Marcuse, one of the leading representatives of the Frankfurt School, addresses the conditions that give rise to ‘One-Dimensional Man’ through a political, philosophical, economic, cultural bridge from technology to political domination. Key themes such as the fragmentation of needs, the deconstruction of freedom, the dysfunctionality of mass media, methodological myopia offer a structural critique in the field of sociology of communication. Sociology of communication examines communication as a practice that constructs individual and collective relations, institutions, values, and evaluates its transformation in the context of mass media and social phenomena and processes. Based on this framework, the study aims to conduct a theoretical discussion problematized on six main axes: the debate on freedom, the critique of consumerism, the approach to technology and mass media, the emphasis on methodology, and the theory of liberation by identifying the main research orientations in Herbert Marcuse's sociology and works in the field of communication studies, starting from the historical context of the Frankfurt School. In conclusion, Marcuse's focus on “social individual”, his positioning of technology and mass media in the construction of “oppressive tolerance”, his evaluations on the relationship between technique and politics, his discussion of one-dimensionality and consumerism, the dilemma between real and artificial needs, and the contributions of his concept of freedom, which he defines through “libidinal rationality”, to communication studies have been evaluated from a sociological perspective.

Keywords

References

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  5. Anderson, P. (2008). Batı Marksizmi üzerine düşünceler, (Çev. Bülent Aksoy). Birikim Yayınları, İstanbul.
  6. Atiker, E. (1998). Modernizm ve kitle toplumu. Vadi Yayınları, Ankara.
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  8. Bronner, S. E. (2011) 'The Frankfurt School', Critical Theory: A Very Short Introduction, 1st edn, Very Short Introductions (New York, 2011; online edn, Oxford Academic, 24 Sept. 2013), https://doi.org/10.1093/actrade/9780199730070.003.0002

Details

Primary Language

English

Subjects

Communication Sociology

Journal Section

Research Article

Early Pub Date

September 13, 2025

Publication Date

September 19, 2025

Submission Date

December 21, 2024

Acceptance Date

April 26, 2025

Published in Issue

Year 2025 Volume: 9 Number: 3

APA
Bal, S. (2025). Interpreting the Frankfurt School and Herbert Marcuse’s Approach from the Perspective of Sociology of Communication. Politik Ekonomik Kuram, 9(3), 1097-1109. https://doi.org/10.30586/pek.1605202
AMA
1.Bal S. Interpreting the Frankfurt School and Herbert Marcuse’s Approach from the Perspective of Sociology of Communication. Politik Ekonomik Kuram. 2025;9(3):1097-1109. doi:10.30586/pek.1605202
Chicago
Bal, Sevil. 2025. “Interpreting the Frankfurt School and Herbert Marcuse’s Approach from the Perspective of Sociology of Communication”. Politik Ekonomik Kuram 9 (3): 1097-1109. https://doi.org/10.30586/pek.1605202.
EndNote
Bal S (September 1, 2025) Interpreting the Frankfurt School and Herbert Marcuse’s Approach from the Perspective of Sociology of Communication. Politik Ekonomik Kuram 9 3 1097–1109.
IEEE
[1]S. Bal, “Interpreting the Frankfurt School and Herbert Marcuse’s Approach from the Perspective of Sociology of Communication”, Politik Ekonomik Kuram, vol. 9, no. 3, pp. 1097–1109, Sept. 2025, doi: 10.30586/pek.1605202.
ISNAD
Bal, Sevil. “Interpreting the Frankfurt School and Herbert Marcuse’s Approach from the Perspective of Sociology of Communication”. Politik Ekonomik Kuram 9/3 (September 1, 2025): 1097-1109. https://doi.org/10.30586/pek.1605202.
JAMA
1.Bal S. Interpreting the Frankfurt School and Herbert Marcuse’s Approach from the Perspective of Sociology of Communication. Politik Ekonomik Kuram. 2025;9:1097–1109.
MLA
Bal, Sevil. “Interpreting the Frankfurt School and Herbert Marcuse’s Approach from the Perspective of Sociology of Communication”. Politik Ekonomik Kuram, vol. 9, no. 3, Sept. 2025, pp. 1097-09, doi:10.30586/pek.1605202.
Vancouver
1.Sevil Bal. Interpreting the Frankfurt School and Herbert Marcuse’s Approach from the Perspective of Sociology of Communication. Politik Ekonomik Kuram. 2025 Sep. 1;9(3):1097-109. doi:10.30586/pek.1605202

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