The Spectacle and Détournement: The Situationists' Critique of Modern Capitalist Society

Abstract

The rise of the so-called ‘anti-globalization’ movement saw a renewed interest, amongst some sections of this movement, in the ideas of the Situationists. The Situationists developed a global critique of modern capitalist society. With this in mind, this article assesses the coherence of the Situationists' critique as a global theory of social change. In the article I examine the Situationists' concept of the spectacle by undertaking an ‘immanent critique’. The article argues that a tension exists between the two central claims of Situationist theory: that modern capitalist society, compared with capitalist society prior to its emergence as ‘the spectacle’, has stronger powers of domination and mystification; and, that proletarian revolution is highly likely to take place against spectacular society. It is suggested that, within the framework of Situationist theory, this tension can be lessened provided proletarian revolution is considered as a process that is not entirely spontaneous. Further, it is argued that, if Situationist theory is to account not only for a transient ‘proletarian revolution’, but also for the possibility of a revolution that endures, then a (nonspectacular) revolutionary avant-garde would need to be conceptualized as an organization that intervenes more than the Situationists suggest.