
New Paper Sheds Light on the Role of Communism in Today's Culture Wars
August 2023
A new paper concludes the New Left-inspired 1960s counterculture negatively affected family values in America. The paper meticulously builds the case for this conclusion highlighting, among other things, the role of cultural Marxist theorist Herbert Marcuse of the Frankfurt School in the process of tearing down the family (following the lead of Marx & Engels in the Communist Manifesto which called for the abolition of the family). To Marcuse, the family was an “oppressive construct” standing in the way of free love and the sexualization of society.
The paper is entitled “Beyond the Fence - Family Values Since the 1960s” by award-winning author Michael Clinton. ACAT is pleased to present the portion of the paper dealing with Marcuse and, at the end, a way to download the entire work.
History of the Counterculture - Herbert Marcuse, Critical Theory, and the New Left
Critical Theory played a major role in shaping the 1960s counterculture. Critical Theory, as stated before, was promoted heavily by German-American philosopher Herbert Marcuse. Marcuse was one of the most prominent members of the Frankfurt School “or The Institute for Social Research (Institute für Sozialforschung)” (Farr 2019). The Frankfurt School was a school of Marxist critical and social thought. It was first established during the Weimar Republic in 1922 but moved to the United States in the early 1930s after facing Nazi persecution. From then on, the school had an enormous impact on philosophy and sociopolitical theory (ibid.).
Herbert Marcuse has been called the “Guru of the New Left” because of his prominent role during the 1960s; however, he rejected that title because he claimed to be learning from those movements as well. Nonetheless, he was strongly influential in this time period and towards the 1960s counterculture. In his speech “Repressive Tolerance,” Marcuse advocated for the repression of those who “oppose a progressive social agenda” (Stanley 2017):
August 2023
A new paper concludes the New Left-inspired 1960s counterculture negatively affected family values in America. The paper meticulously builds the case for this conclusion highlighting, among other things, the role of cultural Marxist theorist Herbert Marcuse of the Frankfurt School in the process of tearing down the family (following the lead of Marx & Engels in the Communist Manifesto which called for the abolition of the family). To Marcuse, the family was an “oppressive construct” standing in the way of free love and the sexualization of society.
The paper is entitled “Beyond the Fence - Family Values Since the 1960s” by award-winning author Michael Clinton. ACAT is pleased to present the portion of the paper dealing with Marcuse and, at the end, a way to download the entire work.
History of the Counterculture - Herbert Marcuse, Critical Theory, and the New Left
Critical Theory played a major role in shaping the 1960s counterculture. Critical Theory, as stated before, was promoted heavily by German-American philosopher Herbert Marcuse. Marcuse was one of the most prominent members of the Frankfurt School “or The Institute for Social Research (Institute für Sozialforschung)” (Farr 2019). The Frankfurt School was a school of Marxist critical and social thought. It was first established during the Weimar Republic in 1922 but moved to the United States in the early 1930s after facing Nazi persecution. From then on, the school had an enormous impact on philosophy and sociopolitical theory (ibid.).
Herbert Marcuse has been called the “Guru of the New Left” because of his prominent role during the 1960s; however, he rejected that title because he claimed to be learning from those movements as well. Nonetheless, he was strongly influential in this time period and towards the 1960s counterculture. In his speech “Repressive Tolerance,” Marcuse advocated for the repression of those who “oppose a progressive social agenda” (Stanley 2017):
- Tolerance is extended to policies, conditions, and modes of behavior which should not be tolerated … This sort of tolerance strengthens tyranny of the majority against which authentic liberals protested … Liberating tolerance, then, would mean intolerance against movements from the Right and toleration of movements from the Left (Marcuse 1969, 82).

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