Formal and Substantive Rationality. Technological Rationality

You only need to select 4 out of 6 questions and answer them. You have to answer all sub questions under one question. And please don’t
exceed 275 words per answer. You can cite it, but you must interpret it in your own words. I don’t know if it’s necessary for this, but I will also
attach the reading file.
Herbert Marcuse. (1941). “Some Social Implications of Modern Technology.” (pages 1- 27) in Technology, War and Fascism: The Collected
Papers of Herbert Marcuse.
Max Horkheimer and Theodor W. Adorno. (1944). “The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception.” (pages 94-136) in The Dialectic of
Enlightenment.
George Herbert Mead (1934). Mind, Self & Society. (pages 135-142, 144-164, 200-203, 214-217, and 222-226).
Herbert Blumer. (1962). “Society as Symbolic Interaction.” (pages 1-8) in Symbolic Interactionism: Perspective and Method.
Erving Goffman. (1959). “Performances.” (pages 1-58, 70-76) in The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life.
Professor said, “So the best way to answer a question that says define a concept is like, you know, let’s just take like symbolic interactionism.
Use the verb to be symbolic interactionism is XYZ. That way it’s really clear what that you are defining the concept. So some of the questions
are going to say, you know, I asked you to define a concept and then connect it to another concept from that person because maybe they build
on each other. So it’s not enough to just define both concepts. You also have to explain how are they related? Why are they important for this
person? I tried to be really explicit in the questions about what you need to do. Some questions are going to ask you to define concepts, but also
contextualize that person or those people’s ideas in terms of the intellectual background.”
Answer four of the six questions below. Be clear what question you’re responding to. Make sure you respond to all sub-questions and clearly
define concepts when asked. All responses should be in the form of a short paragraph or two—no lists or bullet points. There is a maximum of 300 words per response. If you exceed 300 words you will lose points. The assignment is open book but will be checked for plagiarism and other forms of copying. When you are finished upload your file (word or PDF) to the Turnitin link on the course website.
1. Explain Herbert Marcuse’s distinction between technology and technics. Make sure to define both terms. Why does Marcuse describe technology as a “mode of production”? Why does he argue that technics cannot be politically/ideologically neutral?
2. For Marcuse, what is technological rationality? Make sure to define technological rationality. How is technological rationality connected to Weber’s distinction between formal and substantive rationality? Make sure to define Weber’s distinction. Why does Marcuse think that technological rationality is detrimental to a free and liberated society?
3. How are the theorists of the Frankfurt School (Marcuse, Horkheimer & Adorno) criticizing Marx and also building on his ideas? Describe at least one way the Frankfurt School is criticizing Marx or Marxists. At the same time describe at least one way they are building on an idea from Marx or Marxists.
4. For George Herbert Mead, why is the self both subject and object? How is the subject/object distinction connected to the “I” and “me”? Make sure you clearly state what it means for the self to be a subject and for the self to be an object. 5. For Mead, how are the play and game stages connected to the generalized other? Make sure to define all three concepts. Why is the generalized other a critical component of the realization of the self?
6. For Goffman, how is the self like a theatrical performance? What are the different “expressive devices” that go into making these performances possible? Why does he argue that the self “arises from the whole scene”?
Preferred language style  Simple (Easy vocabulary, simple grammar constructions)