ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses Herbert Marcuse's utopian reworking of Sigmund’s Freud’s theory of repression. Marcuse’s reinterpretation involves rereading the psychoanalyst’s theories against the grain of Freud’s own conclusions. In particular, Marcuse seeks to make historical what Freud tends to present as universal. Freud argues that the creation of civilization has resulted in the repression of basic human instincts. For Freud, pleasure is the engine that drives our nature, but unless it is repressed, the transition from animal to human is impossible. The need to labour in order to overcome scarcity and prevent poverty is the foundation of repression. Historically, scarcity has been organized for the benefit of ruling groups, who have ensured an unequal satisfaction of needs between dominant and subordinate groups. Art, and fantasy more generally, should be a form of social negation: it should stand outside the full impact of the capitalist ‘performance principle’, offering an experience of alternative realities that confront and negate capitalist realism.
