One-Dimensionality and Whiteness

Abstract

This article is a theoretical discussion that links Marcuse's concept of one-dimensional society and the Great Refusal with critical race theory in order to achieve a more robust interrogation of whiteness. The author argues that in the context of the United States, the one-dimensionality that Marcuse condemns in One-Dimensional Man is best illuminated by the concept of whiteness, which posits that whiteness in the context of white supremacy is an ideological manifestation of capitalism in the United States. The author furthers that the values Marcuse wants to break with or refuse in An Essay on Liberation can be more concretely captured if it is made clear that the ideology of whiteness represents a key part of the normative order of advanced industrial society that must be ‘Refused’. The reproduction of whiteness in educational structures serves to oppress raced, gendered, and classed individuals and communities who deviate from the norms established by the ideology of whiteness. Thus, in the context of education, the author proposes that the crucial theoretical tools we have to challenge one-dimensional education and refuse whiteness are critical race theory and critical multicultural education.