Marcuse argues that advanced industrial society, which exists in Western capitalist societies, is very different from earlier stages of capitalism. The liberties that we associate with “free” societies—such as freedom of speech, freedom of thought, etc.—“yield” to advanced industrial society.

Freedom of thought and speech are what Marcuse calls “critical,” meaning that they are the means by which the status quo is questioned and then changed. What we call freedom of thought and speech are institutionalized, however, and are therefore only part of advanced industrial society in their dissolution and incorporation into that society. While we believe that freedom of speech and thought exist, truly free thought and speech are not imaginable under advanced industrial society, as they cannot be incorporated into the very society they are critical of and thus seek to dismantle.

“Freedom from want” (1), however, is a true possibility under advanced industrial society, which is crucial: this freedom is foundational to other freedoms. Since society appears to be able to satisfy the physical needs of its people, the basic critical function of that society is disappearing. After all, with the rise of the standard of living, not conforming to the very society that promises a longer and better life would be “socially useless.