“Like lost children we live our unfinished adventures.”
Debord addresses the degradation of human life caused by reducing the experience from living it to representing it. The concept of the Spectacle is explored from different angles to show how superficial manifestation has taken hold of modern society. In modern society, the market economy is technology-driven for commercial gain by representing the impression of the human experience. He shows the correlation between mass media and the changing modern social life. The human experience has been reduced to fetishizing commodity-images rather than live through it or just having it. Thus, it alienates human beings from the full experience of their lives because they have been imprisoned by the spectacle.
“...just as early industrial capitalism moved the focus of existence from being to having, post-industrial culture has moved that focus from having to appearing.”
Debord delves into the post-industrial culture of advertising, mass media, and public relations by how it impacts on the social life. Therefore, the masses become part of the culture by default due to the continual manipulation of opinions and habits. The idea of glorifying an accumulation of images creates a zest or an avid admiration among the masses due to the ecstasy of it. The modern consumer culture has changed the concept of living it to having it which has been exasperated by the spectacle. In that, it is about what the people are supposed to need and to have. Thus, the assertion highlights the source of Debord's argument and the notion of the spectacle that fosters alienation in human relations.
“Economic growth has liberated societies from the natural pressures that forced them into an immediate struggle for survival; but they have not yet been liberated from their liberator.”
The central focus is the dynamic between the market economy and mass media and the transition in modern society. The notion of the spectacle is the utilization of mass media to facilitate economic gain. By homogenizing the culture through commodities it creates the fetishism and alienation that seeps into the fabric of social life. Thus, it prompts the culture of appearance or representation to generate a false sense of connectedness. Therefore Debord emphasizes that the market economy has transitioned from the survival mode of humanity to abundance. But the abundance comes with a price in that the society is still controlled by industrial capitalism.
