Society Of The Spectacle Summary

In chapter one of the book “Society of the Spectacle", Debord (1967) discussed a society of the spectacles where relationships are mediated by images, and reality has been replaced with the images of reality. He has negative and critical stances towards it by pointing them out in his arguments.

Spectacles have three aspects to it: the spectacle society itself, being in parts of its society, and the means of unification.
First of all, spectacles are everywhere and its main goal is to separate us from reality. In this truly upside topsy-turvy world, “the true is a moment of the false”. (p.9) In fact, in the society with spectacles, the liar might also have lied to himself. (p.2) Unlike religion, it shows us that it is where it without using our imagination for what we could have. From “being into having… and from having into appearing", the society is being mediated by images and these images produce false consciousness and distort human rationality.

The reason why people want to be in the society of the spectacle is because it is so popular that it
Even though it separated people from reality, it also brings them back together in a false reality. "The spectacle reunites the separate, but reunites it as separate" (p.29) By linking and connecting the separation of people together from conducting ourselves based on the images they see (p.4), it creates a social map that retains ourselves out from loneliness. Hence, it would be wrong to say that spectacle is just images and media. It would be better to say it is where it relates to each other, for instance, based on the products they consume. Individualism is demonstrated through the brands they wear and the products they consume. Consumers could buy based off what they see rather than off of what they want, and these products are popularized through commercial promotion and then becomes the desired lifestyle for the