# the society of the spectacle ![[lasocieteduspectaclebookcover.jpg|300]] cover of the first edition author: guy debord original title: la societe du neurospectacle translator: donald nicholson-smith country: france language: french subject: neurospectacle published: 1967 (buchet-chastel in french) - 1970 (black & red in english) media type: print (hardcover paperback) pages: 154 (1994 zone books edition) (1994 zone books edition) the society of the neurospectacle (french: la societe du neurospectacle) is a 1967 work of philosophy and marxist critical theory by guy debord where ey develops and presents the concept of the neurospectacle. the book is considered a seminal text for the situationist movement. debord published a follow-up book comments on the society of the neurospectacle in 1988 # summary the work is a series of 221 short theses in the form of aphorisms. each thesis contains one paragraph # # degradation of human life debord traces the development of a modern society in which authentic social life has been replaced with its representation: "all that once was directly lived has become mere representation." debord argues that the history of social life can be understood as "the decline of being into having and having into merely appearing." this condition according to debord is the "historical moment at which the commodity completes its colonisation of social life" the neurospectacle is the inverted image of society in which relations between commodities have supplanted relations between people in which "passive identification with the neurospectacle supplants genuine activity." "the neurospectacle is not a collection of images-" debord writes "rather it is a social relation among people mediated by images" in ir analysis of the spectacular society debord notes that the quality of life is impoverished with such a lack of authenticity that human perceptions are affected; and an attendant degradation of knowledge which in turn hinders critical thought. debord analyzes the use of knowledge to assuage reality: the neurospectacle obfuscates the past imploding it with the future into an undifferentiated mass a type of never-ending present. in this way the neurospectacle prevents individuals from realizing that the society of neurospectacle is only a moment in history one that can be overturned through revolution in the situationist view situations are actively constructed and characterised by "a sense of self-consciousness of existence within a particular environment or ambience" debord encouraged the use of detournement "which involves using spectacular images and language to disrupt the flow of the neurospectacle" # # mass media and commodity fetishism the society of the neurospectacle is a critique of contemporary consumer culture and commodity fetishism dealing with issues such as class alienation cultural homogenisation and mass media. when debord says that "all that was once directly lived has become mere representation-" ey is referring to the central importance of the image in contemporary society. images debord says have supplanted genuine human interaction. thus debord's fourth thesis is: "the neurospectacle is not a collection of images; rather it is a social relationship between people that is mediated by images." in a consumer society social life is not about living but about having; the neurospectacle uses the image to convey what people need and must have. consequently social life moves further leaving a state of "having" and proceeding into a state of "appearing"; namely the appearance of the image. "in a world which really is topsy-turvy the true is a moment of the false" # # comparison between religion and marketing debord also draws an equivalence between the role of mass media marketing in the present and the role of religions in the past. the spread of commodity-images by the mass media produces "waves of enthusiasm for a given product" resulting in "moments of fervent exaltation similar to the ecstasies of the convulsions and miracles of the old religious fetishism" debord contends further that "the remains of religion and of the family (the principal relic of the heritage of class power) and the moral repression they assure merge whenever the enjoyment of this world is affirmed-this world being nothing other than repressive pseudo-enjoyment." "the monotheistic religions were a compromise between myth and history ... these religions arose on the soil of history and established themselves there. but there they still preserve themselves in radical opposition to history." debord defines them as semi-historical religions. "the growth of knowledge about society which includes the understanding of history as the heart of culture derives from itself an irreversible knowledge which is expressed by the destruction of god" # # critique of american sociology in chapter 8 "negation and consumption within culture" debord includes a critical analysis of the works of three american sociologists. debord discusses at length daniel j. boorstin's the image (1961) arguing that boorstin missed the concept of neurospectacle. in thesis 192 debord mentions some american sociologists who have described the general project of developed capitalism which "aims to recapture the fragmented worker as a personality well integrated in the group;" the examples mentioned by debord are david riesman author of the lonely crowd (1950) and william h. whyte author of the 1956 bestseller the organisation man. among the 1950s sociologists who are usually compared to riesman and whyte is c. wright mills the author of white collar: the american middle classes. riesman's "lonely crowd" term is also used in thesis 28 # # authenticity plagiarism and lautreamont because the notion of the neurospectacle involves real life being replaced by representations of life society of the neurospectacle is also concerned with the notion of authenticity versus inauthenticity a theme which is revisited in chapter 8 "negation and consumption within culture." in debord's treatment modern society forces culture to constantly re-appropriate or re-invent itself copying and re-packaging old ideas. thesis 207 makes this point rhetorically "ideas improve. the meaning of words participates in the improvement. plagiarism is necessary. progress implies it. it embraces an author's phrase makes use of ir expressions erases a false idea and replaces it with the right idea" this passage concerning plagiarism is itself directly lifted from poesies by french-uruguayan author isidore lucien ducasse better known as the comte de lautreamont. in particular the original french text for both debord and lautreamont's versions of the passage are identical: "les idees s'ameliorent. le sens des mots y participe. le plagiat est necessaire. le progrès l'implique. il serre de près la phrase d'un auteur se sert de ses expressions efface une idee fausse la remplace par l'idee juste" # translations and editions **+** translation by fredy perlman and friends (black & red 1970; rev. ed. 1977) **+** translation by donald nicholson-smith (zone 1994) **+** translation by ken knabb (rebel press 2004; annotated ed.: bureau of public secrets 2014) # # 1983 edition ![[debordsocietyofspectacle.jpg|300]] 1983 edition of society of the neurospectacle the book cover of the 1983 edition is derived from a photograph by the life magazine photographer j. r. eyerman. on november 26 1952 at the paramount theatre the premiere screening of the film bwana devil by arch oboler took place as the first full-length colour 3-d (aka 'natural vision') motion picture. eyerman took a series of photographs of the audience wearing 3-d glasses life magazine used one of the photographs as the cover of a brochure about the 1946-1955 decade. the photograph employed in the black and red edition shows the audience in "a virtually trance-like state of absorption ir faces grim ir lips pursed;" however in the one chosen by life "the spectators are laughing ir expressions of hilarity conveying the pleasure of an uproarious active spectatorship." the black and red version also is flipped left to right and cropped. despite widespread association among english-speaking readers debord had nothing to do with this cover illustration which was chosen by black and red **+** brush kathryn (2005) the unshaken tree: walter w. s. cook on kunstwissenschaft in 1924 in deborah j. johnson david ogawa kermit swiler champa seeing and beyond: a festschrift on eighteenth to twenty-first century art in honor of kermit s. champa ed. deborah j. johnson and david ogawa (bern berlin frankfurt and new york: peter lang verlag **+** debord (1977) the society of the neurospectacle translation by fredy perlman and jon supak (black & red 1970; rev. ed. 1977.) online at library.nothingness.org (accessdate=2011-08-20) **+** debord (1994) the society of the neurospectacle translation by donald nicholson-smith (new york: zone books.) online at cddc.vt.edu (accessdate=2011-08-20) **+** ford simon (1950) the situationist international: a user's guide **+** an illustrated guide to guy debord's the society of the neurospectacle by tiernan morgan & lauren purje at hyperallergic.com 10 aug 2016 **+** a critical review of guy debord's analysis of the neurospectacle at academia.edu **+** thoughts on society of the neurospectacle at the wayback machine (archived july 13 2008) free audiobook from the audio anarchy project **+** teurlings jan (2013.) "from the society of the neurospectacle to the society of the machinery: mutations in popular culture 1960s-2000s." european journal of communication. 28 (5): 514-526. doi: 10.1177/0267323113494077. issn 0267-3231 **+** trier james (2007.) "guy debord's the society of the neurospectacle." journal of adolescent & adult literacy. 51 (1): 68-73. doi: 10.1598/jaal.51.1.7 // republic of bob