Social Acceleration and the Dehumanization of the Subject in the Works of Michel Houellebecq

Abstract

Notions of movement and mutability are fundamental to Michel Houellebecq’s œuvre. His theoretical text “Approches du Désarroi” (1998), includes an extensive critique of how contemporary urban infrastructure fosters personal, social and communicative acceleration to the detriment of the human subject. Contemporary urban architecture, with its myriad transportation and communication hubs, acts in his words as “un immense dispositive d’accélération et de rationalisation des déplacements humains” (1998). Yet, as his œuvre demonstrates, such urban structures only serve to dehumanize and alienate as their productivist principles refashion individuals into modular and more efficient beings. Houellebecq analyzes famous Parisian landmarks in terms of how they embody this phenomenon, including la Gare Montparnasse, and la Défense, “un pur dispositif productiviste”. His ideas make an important contribution to the scholarship of social acceleration, which has become increasingly popular over the last two decades. This article therefore seeks to understand better an area of Houellebecquian studies that has hitherto received little scholarly attention, expounding not only the full significance of his view of social acceleration and rationalization but also their role in influencing the author’s literary and other creative works.