The Society of the Spectacle (Annotated Edition)

160 Pages·2014·1.92 MB·English

by  Guy Debord

GUY DEBORD
THE
SOCIETY
OF THE
SPECTACLE
Translated and annotated by Ken Knabb
GUY DEBORD
THE
SOCIETY
OF THE
SPECTACLE
Translated and annotated by Ken Knabb
Bureau of Public Secrets
Guy Debord's La Societe du Spectadl} was originally published in Paris
by Editions Buchet-Chastel (1967) and was reissued by Editions
Champ Libre (1971) and Editions Gallimard (1992).
This annotated translation by Ken Knabb, published in 2014 by
the Bureau of Public Secrets, is not copyrighted. Anyone may freely
reproduce or adapt any or all of it.
ISBN 978-0-939682-06-5
Library of Congress Control Number: 2013951566
Book and cover design: Jeanne Smith
Printed in Canada
BUREAU OF PUBLIC SECRETS
P.O. Box 1044, Berkeley CA 94701
www.bopsecrets.org
Contents
PREFACE V
1. Separation Perfected 1
2. The Commodity as Spectacle 13
3. Unity and Division Within Appearances 21
4. The Proletariat as Subject and Representation 31
5. Time and History 67
6. Spectacular Time 81
7. Territorial Management 89
8. Negation and Consumption Within Culture 97
9. Ideology Materialized 113
NOTES 119
INDEX 147

PREFACE
The first version of this translation of The Society of the Spectacle was
completed and posted online at my "Bureau of Public Secrets" website
in 2002. The first print version was published by Rebel Press (London)
in 2004 and several other editions were subsequently published in
various print and digital formats. Meanwhile I continued to fine-tune
the version on my website. Although I will continue to tweak the on line
version as further improvements occur to me, this new printed edition
is probably pretty close to final.
There have been several previous English translations ofDebord's
book. I have gone through them all and have retained whatever seemed
already to be adequate. In particular, I have adopted quite a few of
Donald Nicholson-Smith's renderings, though I have diverged from
him in many other cases. His translation (Zone Books, 1994) and the
earlier one by Fredy Perlman and friends (Black and Red, 1970; revised
1977; reprinted by AK Press, 2005) are both still in print, and both can
also be found at various online sites. Although I obviously would not
have taken the trouble to do this new translation ifl had not felt there
was room for improvements in those earlier translations, I encourage
readers to compare all three versions in order to get a fuller sense of
the original text. In many cases the differences are matters of stylistic
nuances and it may be debatable which rendering conveys Debord's
meaning most clearly and accurately.
Regardless of such differences, I am pleased to note that my
friends Lorraine Perlman (Fredy's widow) and Donald Nicholson­
Smith have graciously expressed enthusiastic support for the idea of
adding annotations.
Many people have told me that they became discouraged by the
opening pages of the book and gave up. If this is the case with you,
I suggest that you try starting with one of the later chapters. If you
have some familiarity with radical politics, try chapter 4. As you see
how Debord deals with particular movements and events of modern
history, you may get a better idea of the practical implications of ideas
that are presented more abstractly in the first three chapters. If you are
more familiar with earlier history, or with urban social issues, or with
art and culture, you might instead try starting with chapter 5 or 7 or 8.
The book is not, however, as difficult or abstract as it is reputed to
be. It is not an ivory-tower "philosophical" dissertation. Nor, as others
have sometimes imagined, is it a mere expression of "protest." It is a
v
carefully considered effort to clarify the most fundamental tendencies
and contradictions of the society in which we find ourselves and the
advantages and drawbacks of various methods for changing it. Every
single thesis has a direct or indirect bearing on issues that are matters
of life and death. Chapter 4, which with remarkable conciseness sums
up the key lessons of two centuries of revolutionary experience, is sim­
ply the most obvious example.
As I noted in The joy of Revolution:
Mucho ft hes ituationiimsptascs'tt emmefrdo m thefa ctt hatth ey
articulattheidn gtsh atm ostp eoplhea da lreaedxyp erienbcuetd
wereu nabloer a fraidt oe xpreusnst islo meoneel sber okteh ei ce.
("Ouri deaasr ei ne verybodmyi'nsd ."I)fs omes ituatiotneixstts
neverthesleeesmsd ifficautlfi rts tt,h iiss b ecausteh eidri alectical
structugroee sa gainstth eg raionf o urc onditionWihnegn. t his
conditioniisbn rgo ketnh eyd on'ste ems oo bscur(et hewye ret he
sourcoefs omeo ft hem ostp opulaMra y 1968 graffitMia)n.y a ca­
demics pectarhoarvsef loundearreodu ntdr yinugn successfutlol y
resoltvheev ario"ucso ntradicdteosrcyr"i ptoifot nhses pectaicnl e
The Society of the Spectacle intsoo mes ingl"es,c ientificcoanlsliys tent"
definitibount;a nyoneen gageidn c ontesttihnigss o ciewtiyl filn d
Deborde'xsa minatoifoi ntfr om differeanntg leesm inentcllye aarn d
usefula,n dc omet oa pprecitahtefae c tt hahte n evewra steasw ordi n
academiicn anitoirep so intleexspsr essioofon ust rage.
In short, you can really understand this book only by using it. This
makes it more of a challenge, but it is also why it remains so pertinent
nearly half a century after its original publication while countless other
social theories and intellectual fads have come and gone.
It has, in fact, become even more pertinent than ever, because the
spectacle has become more all-pervading than ever-to the point tha� it
is almost universally taken for granted. Most people today have scarcely
any awareness of pre-spectacle history, let alone of anti-spectacle possi­
bilities. As Debord noted in his follow-up work, Comments on the Society
of the Spectacle (1988), "spectacular domination has succeeded in raising
an entire generation molded to its laws."
I hope this new edition helps you break out of that mold.
-KK
vi
THE
SOCIETY
OF THE
SPECTACLE

CHAPTER 1
Separation Perfected
«But for the present age, which prefers the sign
to the thing signified, the copy to the original,
representation to reality, appearance to essence,
...t ruth is considered profane, and only illusion is
sacred. Sacredness is in fact held to be enhanced in
proportion as truth decreases and illusion increases,
so that the highest degree of illusion comes to be seen
as the highest degree of sacredness.''
-Feuerbach, Preface to the Second Edition of
The Essence of Christianity