Technological rationality or technical rationality is a philosophical idea postulated by the Frankfurt School philosopher Herbert Marcuse in his 1941 article, "Some Social Implications of Modern Technology," published first in the journal Studies in Philosophy and Social Sciences, Vol.
[2] Reason in its pre-technological form collapses as opposition to the norms of technological society is denied under the new system of rationality.
[2] Complacency within the status quo replaces reason as people grow content with the better life offered by technology.
[3] It requires the restriction of leisure time, the availability of goods and services, and the cognitive ability to understand and desire self-realization.
[4] This mass-produced art is integrated into everyday life, thus fully removing the distinction between high culture and social reality.
[5] His conception of technological rationality and its negative societal consequences were a direct critique to the industrial capitalist society of the time.
[5] Many politicians on the right, such as Ronald Reagan and William F. Buckley, and philosophers, such as Alasdair MacIntyre, attacked Marcuse's idea of technological rationality.
[5] Marcuse received death threats, and Brandeis and the University of California system attempted to fire him from his teaching positions due to One-Dimensional Man.
[5] Ultimately, the conception of technological rationality and Marcuse's book One-Dimensional Man fell out of favor with the left in the 1990s.