Archive for August, 2025

One-Dimensional Man is a 1964 non-fiction philosophy book by Herbert Marcuse.

In the book, Marcuse argues that suppression of individuality is presented as rational and efficient in advanced industrial society, but in fact this rationality itself serves domination. That is to say that it becomes logical to drive people to conformity because that scales well in capitalism (literally economies of scale).

New forms of control

This creates what Marcuse describes as “free competition among unequally equipped economic subjects”. For example, if a corporation mistreats you, you can take them to court. But they have millions of pounds and an army of lawyers, so good luck with that. Some of this can be rebalanced with trade unions but both western and eastern countries tend to legislate against this.

Marcuse identifies that we already have the technology to free people from needs and yet we are subject to the grind to survive even more. This is because modern society turns waste into need and we build our identity around commodities. Nobody needs a brand-name shirt. And we have loads of shirts. But we’ve created a world where we work overtime to get the X-branded shirt.

Refusing “to go along” with the system is then pathologised. Too burnt out to work? You have an anxiety disorder.

But why would you even want to rebel? Modern society does not oppress overtly, but rather by offering a life that seems tolerable, rewarding, and comfortable, and then threatening to take that away. By offering us a sense of comfort, it restricts our freedom, because we dare not choose to make our lives harder.

He also encourages to grapple with the concept of freedom itself. Freedom is defined to fit the existing system. You are given a thousand different products to consume but you are not given the choice not to consume.

To me, this brings to mind the question of what is freedom in 21st century society? For example, does freedom include universal healthcare? Libertarians would argue no because then they have to pay tax to fund it. Socialists would argue yes because in what sense are you free if you are too sick to live your life?

Closing of the political universe

Marcuse notes that oppression is hidden behind layers of bureaucracy, management and corporate structures. Workers used to be oppressed by the factory owner themselves, now they themselves answer to a board or shareholders who you will never see.

This is reminiscent of The Grapes of Wrath where the farmers are trying to work out who to shoot. Ultimately, they find there is nobody to rise up against because the system is faceless.

Excess capacity becomes a threat to society because if we do not consume it all, the surplus upsets the capitalist balance and this may impact our “comfortable” lives. Thus the threat of this potential upset becomes greater than the threat of losing our freedom, so we meekly sacrifice freedom for safety.

Chapter three and beyond

I managed to follow the book to here. After that, the philosophy became too dense for me to follow. This was very frustrating and I would love to read a more accessible text on the subject.

Conclusion

If you are a philosopher, you will likely find One-Dimensional Man an excellent critique of technological society. If you are a non-philosopher like myself, I still think you will enjoy the first chapter, but may get lost in the text after that.

Back in 2021, we launched the Running Ambassadors programme to train people to effectively communicate the benefits of running, share their passion with others, and build a safe and supportive environment using the RISE Framework.

Four years later and I am exciting to announce we have now brought the course to Udemy to broaden our audience and allow more people to access the training.

The Yorkshire Museum is located in York and has several galleries on dinosaurs, Star Carr, Roman York and the Vikings. They have a sensory corner with some handmade creastures and a virtual reality feed a dinosaur interactive exhibit that Venla had a go at. We also tried the fossil dig. Everything was in good working order so it is a well kept museum. Worth a visit if you are in York.

Bala is a town located in the middle of North Wales, at at the north end of Bala Lake. Importantly, they have a parkun and it is one of the four required to complete The Full Ponty challenge. I ticked off Pontefract in June, so this is the second one I needed.

The course is an out-and-back along the river with a turnaround point at the lake. You do this twice before finishing. I had had surgery a few days before so no running for me, but I had a delightful stroll along the course with the hills in the background and the lake at the end.

I free soloed the Little Sugar Loaf. Technically, there is no climbing involved and you just walk up. Also, some would say a hill that is 342 metres high isn’t much of an achievement. Especially when the car park is like half way up. But I wouldn’ be great with heights and this one just turns into a scramble at the top.

I didn’t actually fancy the scramble. There are a few false summits that way and by the second one I decided there was too much scrambling. So I went around the other way and took the more gentle path. You get a lovely view from the top.

You might be surprised to learn that it is fairly near the Great Sugar Loaf.

The viva is an oral examination also known as a thesis defence. In Latin it means “living voice” with the idea that you give voice to your research while being examined by a panel made up of an internal examiner from the university, an external examiner from another university, and a chair who is there to ensure smooth running of the examination.

I completed mine last week for my research on mental health in ultra-endurance athletes. I am delighted to say that I passed with minor corrections!

Another S for my snakes challenge!

Sligo parkrun has an out-and-back section before opening up to two loops of a bigger park. There is a slight hill here, but nothing compared to Temple Newsam or Cabinteely. And on the plus side, you get a beautiful view of the hills in the distance.

Sligo is a picturesque place and I stopped on the way back to take a few pictures.

Leaving the Inishowen peninsula, we arrived in Letterkenny. With over 20,000 people it is by far the biggest town in Donegal and feels like a big place. It has a Dunnes and everything. Fantastic food, as well. We ate at The Yellow Pepper on the first day and I had the hot seafood platter with haddock, muscles, chowder, and a bunch of other stuff. On the second day we ate at Sister Sara’s gastro pub.

We also paid a visit to Tropical World. Obviously, it is not quite as good as Tropical World in Leeds (because, again, everything is better in Yorkshire), it has a lovely range of bugs, birds, mammals and non-real dinosaurs to explore. We also got to stroke a snake, and they have a play area, too.

Glenveagh is a national park in Donegal containing Lough Veagh and a Derryveagh mountains. It is free to visit and offers some beautiful walks and views.

West of Glenveagh you will find the coast. We stopped at Narin Beach to build another sandcastle. I am writing this two or three weeks later and my hands are still blistered from all of the digging.

Ireland has a series of folk parks which are open-air musums with traditional buildings and often have people in character doing traditional activities. In Belfast, you will find Ulster Folk Musum and in Clare you will find Bunratty. In Donegal, you will find Doagh Famine Village, which had been on my bucket list for a while.

Unfortunately, they recently had a fire and some of it was closed. But they were still offering visits and a large part of it is a tour in which a former resident of one of the houses presents some living history, demonstrating the food and traditions of the area. You also get some seaweed and a shot of potcheen to try. There are a few buildings to explore after that.