ABSTRACT

This book examines alienation from both a sociological and psychoanalytic perspective, revisiting classic treatments of the topic (Marx, Simmel, Weber) and exploring its relevance to understanding post-modern consumer society. It examines the escapist potentials for good and for ill in modern society - those fostered by commercial interests, and those maintained by individuals and groups as their form of resisting alienation.

part I|49 pages

Alienation in Modern Mass Society

part II|115 pages

The Carnivalization of Society

chapter 5|23 pages

Alienation, Entrapment, and Inauthenticity

Carnival to the Rescue

chapter 6|17 pages

Carnivalization and Freedom

A Shortcut to the Overcoming of Alienation

chapter 7|26 pages

Theorizing Carnival

Mardi Gras as Perceived, Conceived, and Lived Space

chapter 9|33 pages

The Dialectics of Carnival

From Bakhtin to Baudrillard

part III|4 pages

Conclusion

chapter |2 pages

Conclusion