The People Recognize Themselves In Their Commodities;

If The Worker And His Boss Enjoy The Same Television Program And Visit The Same Resort Places, If The Typist Is As Attractively Made Up As The Daughter Of Her Employer, If The Negro Owns A Cadillac, If They All Read The Same Newspaper, Then This Assimilation Indicates Not The Disappearance Of Classes, But The Extent To Which The Needs And Satisfactions That Serve The Preservation Of The Establishment Are Shared By The Underlying Population.

The Way In Which A Society Organizes The Life Of Its Members ... Is One "project" Of Realization Among Others. But Once The Project Has Become Operative In The Basic Institutions And Relations, It Tends To Become Exclusive And To Determine The Development Of The Society As A Whole.

Technical Progress And More Comfortable Living Permit The Systematic Inclusion Of Libidinal Components Into The Realm Of Commodity Production And Exchange. But No Matter How Controlled The Mobilization Of Instinctual Energy May Be (it Sometimes Amounts To A Scientific Management Of Libido), No Matter How Much It May Serve As A Prop For The Status Quo - It Is Also Gratifying To The Managed Individuals, Just As Racing The Outboard Motor, Pushing The Power Lawn Mower, And Speeding The Automobile Are Fun.

However, If "free Choice" Means More Than A Small Selection Between Pre-established Necessities, And If The Inclinations And Impulses Used In Work Are Other Than Those Preshaped By A Repressive Reality Principle, Then Satisfaction In Daily Work Is Only A Rare Privilege.

The Range Of Choice Open To The Individual Is Not The Decisive Factor In Determining The Degree Of Human Freedom, But What Can Be Chosen And What Is Chosen By The Individual.