ABSTRACT
Central to the parameters of Frankfurt School social theory is Theodor Adorno's vision of the 'administered society' and Herbert Marcuse's thesis of the 'one-dimensional society' in which individuals suffer from 'surplus-repression'. The Frankfurt School, as it came to be called, was formed in the decade prior to the Nazi reign of terror in Germany, and, not surprisingly, many of its leading theorists conducted numerous studies seeking to grasp the wave of political irrationalism and totalitarianism sweeping Western Europe. One of the most distinctive features of the development of critical theory undertaken by the Frankfurt School was its use of Freudian psychoanalysis for the study of identity, politics, culture and ideology. For the moment, however, it is necessary to consider what drew members of the Frankfurt School to Freud, and in particular to examine how psychoanalytic concepts were reformulated and extended to fit with the core emphases of critical theory.
