Society of the Spectacle - Guy Debord

This book is a tough read. Although the ideas are intriguing:

'In Societies where modern conditions of production prevail, all life presents as an immense accumulation of spectacles. Everything that was directly lived has moved away into a representation.' Debord (2009).

In other words our society is over saturated with images churned out by the media; that we can no longer see ourselves, and mediate with each other through a set of image-based cliches and stereotypes.

The book reads as statement after statement without pause to clarify, reflect, or give examples. I think I got the gist of Debord's argument but another read through is required - if not multiple reads over time. I also looked online for further clarification. I came across a Guardian review that neatly clarified some of the books concepts and helped to cement the various ideas that are thrown up -  putting them into a more simpler form than I could manage.

'All told, the book is full of sentences that describe something simple, but profound: the way that just about everything that we consume - and, if we're not careful, most of what we do - embodies a mixture of distraction and reinforcement that serves to reproduce the mode of society and economy that has taken the idea of the spectacle to an almost surreal extreme.' Harris (2012).

So, we're just a bunch of factory worker drones that produce and consume in equal measure. We are kept at peace by shiny things (celebrity culture, passive consumption of television) waved in our faces as a method of distraction so that we don't become too aware of our enslavement. I use the term 'factory worker drones' merely as a euphemism for everyone that has a salaried job and works within Capitalist commodity culture. Debord points out that we actively participate in the spectacle. Even our leisure time that has expanded greatly in the last century is focused into shopping, eating out, exercising, holidaying - all of these activities are designed to make us consume. The system reinforces itself.

I'm not even pretending to fully understand this book. I'm sure some of my points don't quite hit target with the book's core ideas. But I will give it another read soon - after I've had time to ponder and maybe do some more research.


 





References:

Debord, G. (2009) Society of the Spectacle. London, UK: Anthony Rowe, CPI Group

Harris, J. (2012) Guy Debord predicted our distracted society. The Guardian. Ed: 30th March 2012.