Perspective

The text is a response to, and in some ways an apology for, contemporaneous Marxist theory. The historical failures of Marxist thought having become apparent, Debord and others attempted to reinvent, or at least reinterpret, Marx within the paradigm them obtaining. The text is scholarly and incredibly dense. Indeed, its brevity belies the immense amount of information conveyed and the exceptional information density of the text is one of the primary hurdles to interpretation. During some sections—notably Chapter 4—the text relies heavily on prior philosophical work, especially that of Marx and Hegel. This framework is not required for understanding all of the text but its stamp throughout is unmistakable. The text appeared during a time of political foment and social unrest in many European countries and America. In part, it was a response to a perceived abject failure of Marxism, but in part it was...