The Society of the Spectacle

Perhaps the most central theme running through Debord’s text is that of the Spectacle, which is Debord’s term for the contemporary form that alienated existence takes under capitalist society. Marx’s original definition of alienation outlined four main components. First, workers are alienated from the objects of their labor insofar as, under the conditions of industrial production in the 19th century, what they produced held little opportunity for an individual to see themselves and take pride in what they had made, since many of their products were individual, isolated parts, such as paneling for automobiles or machines, or everyday items like nuts and bolts.

Second, workers were alienated from other workers since each sees all others as someone they are in competition with, and thus not someone with whom they share a common and mutually-beneficial goal. Third, workers were alienated from themselves and from the ability to develop their talents since they were forced to spend most of their day working and only had the energy to rest and recover for the next work day once they were off the clock. Fourth, and finally, workers were alienated from society since their entire existence was organized and structured around the demands of production.