Critique of the spectacle: the radical thought of Guy Debord

Abstract

“We live in a society of the spectacle” (p. 13). It is with the investigation of this apparent common sense that Gabriel Zacarias opens his book Critique of the Spectacle: The Radical Thought of Guy Debord. Its theoretical rigor is, in essence, an invitation to read and delve deeper into the thinking of the situationist. Everyone talks about and seems to agree with the fact that we live in a spectacular society. A certain partial approach tends to think that society is a spectacle simply because it is invaded by the most diverse means of communication. However, “duly entitled Society of the Spectacle, the aim of the work is to understand the spectacle as a total social phenomenon, that is, as articulated to the social totality” (p. 15-16). The author seeks to critically update the French theorist's thinking.