Social Criticism in Two Science Fiction Novels from the 1950S and 1960S

Social Criticism in Two Science Fiction Novels from the 1950s and 1960s

Pauline Kimman

Ghent University

Student ID: 01409997

Submitted on August 7, 2015

For Completion of Masters of Arts in American Studies

Acknowledgements

First of all I should like to thank all the academic staff of the MAAS program and my supervisor Prof. Codde in particular.

I am eternally grateful for my family’s unconditional support throughout the academic year.

My friends have been equally supportive, and I acknowledge how fortunate I have been to have had them by my side.

Table of Contents

Introduction ...... 4

Chapter 1: The Space Merchants (1953) ...... 9

1.1 Introduction ...... 9

1.2 Synopsis...... 10

1.3 The Fictional Reality ...... 10

1.4 The Protagonist ...... 11

1.5 Social Issue: The Class System ...... 15

1.6 Social Issue: Corporate Power ...... 21

Chapter 2: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968) ...... 26

2.1 Introduction ...... 26

2.2 Synopsis...... 27

2.3 The Fictional Reality ...... 28

2.4 The Protagonist ...... 29

2.5 Social Issue: Man and the Machine ...... 32

2.6 Social Issue: Religion ...... 35

Conclusion ...... 41

Bibliography ...... 45

Introduction

In a lecture series at the University of Chicago in 1957, Cyril M. Kornbluth, co-author of The Space Merchants, suggested that since ‘the science fiction story does not turn the reader outward to action but inward to contemplation,’1 it had failed as social criticism. While sci-fi readers’ track record as social revolutionaries is not particularly noticeable, it is specifically the genre’s ability to engage its reader in ‘contemplation’ which I argue is distinctive and essential to the genre’s affiliation with social criticism. Numerous attempts have been made at defining science fiction as a literary genre. Without lingering on the complexities of defining the genre, it is essential nonetheless to decide on one clear definition when tracing its historical context. Assessing this context will provide a better understanding of the genre’s position in literature, whilst highlighting the rationale for my choosing this genre. I propose this definition: science fiction is speculative fiction in which socially and politically relevant content concerned with contemporary developments in science and technology is projected onto predominantly futurological alternate realities.2

Science fiction historical background

In his Science Fiction (2005), Roger Luckhurst addressed the different origins of science fiction. These origins, Luckhurst finds, are ‘precursors to the lowly image of pulp fiction in 20th century.’3 He finds that science fiction’s origins can traced be back in different ways, ‘depending on how SF is conceptualized.’4 The first origin dates back to exotic travel narratives in the eighteenth century. ‘[T]he encounter with the other’ is what links these two genres. A second origin is utopian writing like ‘Thomas More’s Utopia (1516) [which] honed the strategy of an idealized ‘no-place’ (u-topos) that critiqued the political constitution of the extant state by unfavourable comparison to the imagined ‘good-place’ (eu-topos).’5 Thirdly, Luckhurst considers the scientific revolution of the seventeenth century to be ‘a vital premise for the emergence of the genre.’6 He mentions Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818) as an example of this type of writing, which considers ‘the human implications of the scientific experiment.’ The last origin discussed by Luckhurst reaches back ‘to the Bible and

1 Kornbluth, C. M., “The Failure of the Science Fiction Novel as Social Criticism” in Davenport, Basil; Heinlein, Robert, A.; Kornbluth, C. M.; Bester, Alfred; Bloch, Robert, The Science Fiction Novel: imagination and social criticism,“ 3rd ed. (Chicago: Advent Publishers, 1969), p. 56 2 This definition is inspired by several scholars and writers; C.N. Manlove (1986), A.E. Levin, Yuri Prizel (1977), David Seed (1999) 3 Luckhurst, Roger, Science Fiction (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2005), p. 16 4 Ibid., p. 15 5 Ibid, pp. 15-16 6 Ibid., p. 16 4

classical mythology,’ which relates to ‘the expansive, even sublime imagination of SF.’7 Even though Luckhurst provides evidence for the different origins of science fiction, he finds that science fiction does not date further back than circa 1880. ‘In the 1880s, urban life was itself a machine ensemble, with everyday communication, public spaces and popular culture increasingly routed through machines.’8 Science received more attention from the public with the rise of Scientific naturalism and Darwinism. Luckhurst finds that ‘The Origin of Species was written in a way that made it particularly open to metaphorical extension.’9 Luckhurst uses Darwin’s degeneration theory as an example which has been used in texts like Robert L. Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1885) and Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897). Luckhurst refers to these texts as ‘fictions of the science,’10 where fiction becomes the ‘metaphorical extension’ of science. Adam Roberts, the author of the science fiction novel Salt (2000) and lecturer at Royal Holloway, tries to define the genre in his book Science Fiction (2000). While he equally lists the authors mentioned by Luckhurst as being part of the history of the genre of science fiction, he finds that ‘none of these books just mentioned belong to a recognised genre - a specific type or species of literature - called Science Fiction.’11 Both Luckhurst and Roberts agree that it was not until the 1920s that the genre of science fiction was identified. Luckhurst gives several reasons to explain why ‘distinctive SF genre publishing begins in the 1920’s.’ These include: ‘the extension of literacy and primary education … the displacement of older forms of literature … the arrival of scientific and technical institutions … that comes to confront traditional loci of cultural authority’ and ‘the context of a culture being visibly transformed by technological and scientific innovations.’12 What Luckhurst finds particular to the development of science in America post-1880 is the way in which ‘[t]he mechanical engineer and the practical inventor became social heroes.’13 The ‘Edisonade,’ a term coined by John Clute, refers to this era. Luckhurst calls it the ‘inventor mythos,’ which portrayed ‘the lone inventor as an innocent victim of industrialist barons and capitalist speculators.’14 While the ‘Edisonade’ focused mostly on the scientist, Luckhurst finds that the science fiction that followed was more ‘an ideologically conservative and barely literate investment in inhuman mechanism.’15 Hugo Gernsback was the most influential figure in the further development of science fiction as a genre. The magazine Amazing Stories which he launched in 1926, featured a

7 Ibid, p.16 8 Luckhurst, Roger, Science Fiction (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2005), p. 29 9 Ibid., p. 23 10 Ibid., p. 23 11 Roberts, Adam, Science Fiction (London: Routledge, 2000), p. 3 12 Luckhurst, Roger, Science Fiction (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2005), p. 16 13 Ibid., p. 24 14 Ibid., p. 53 15 Ibid., p. 59 5

variety of short stories which combined science and fiction into what he termed ‘scientifiction’ in 1924.16 The term science fiction only emerged in 1929. Although Gernsback’s stories officially coined the term ‘science fiction,’ he has been criticised nonetheless. In 1973, Brian Aldiss ‘attacked Gernsback ... as one of the worst disasters ever to hit the science fiction field.’’17 The reason why these stories have often received such criticism is that while Gernsback often took pride in ‘the predictive accuracy of his inventions,’ Luckhurst notes that he was equally known for ‘[a]bandoning any interest in those other mechanics - of plot, of melodrama.’18 This type of writing is also called ‘pulp fiction’: a distinction ‘that mapped onto class and automatically determined the cultural value of journal content.’19 While science fiction continues to receive criticism for its ‘low quality,’ Luckhurst finds that it is worth it to ‘investigate representative SF works from about 1880 that are rich and overdetermined objects because they speak to the concerns of their specific time in history.’20 It is for this reason that I have chosen to focus on science fiction post-1945 - even though the development of science fiction as a literary genre does not indicate that - 1945 is a particularly relevant year, as John Brannigan offers: ‘there is nothing significant about 1945, from the viewpoint of establishing a literary chronology, other than the fact that the Second World War ended.’21 Nevertheless, the significance of this period is three-fold: (1) politically, the US entered the Cold War, which popularised general themes of paranoia about Communism and nuclear diplomacy; (2) economically, prosperity, laissez faire economics and cheap mass production led to innovation and power redistribution in the corporate world; and (3) socially, the development of a middle class whose materialistic values challenged traditional beliefs concerning questions of identity and loss of individualism. Critics and scholars largely agree that the 1950s saw the first major breakthrough of science fiction into the mainstream.22 ‘[T]he growth and diversification of the genre in the post-war years,’23 Luckhurst finds, can be attributed to the development of what Dwight Eisenhower refers to in his farewell address in 1961 as the ‘military-industrial complex’. American science fiction ‘took aim at the technologies of consumption and the domestic paranoias induced by the Cold War,’24 Luckhurst continues. Science fiction developed from John W. Campbell’s Astounding Stories, which

16 Ibid., p.15 17 Aldiss, Brian, Billion Year Spree (London: Weidenfeld, 1973), pp. 209-210, cited in Luckhurst, Roger, Science Fiction (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2005), pp. 59-60 18 Luckhurst, Roger, Science Fiction (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2005), pp. 60-61 19 Ibid., pp. 18-19 20 Ibid., p. 3 21 Brannigan, John, Orwell to the Present: Literature in England, 1945-2000 (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2003), p. 3, cited in Ibid., p. 80 22 Thomas D. Clareson (1991), Keith M. Booker (2001), Martin H. Greeberg; J. Orlander (1979) 23 Luckhurst, Roger, Science Fiction (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2005), p. 81 24 Ibid., p. 81 6

‘seriously explored the future of science and technology,’25 as science fiction writer Robert Silverberg argued in an essay in 2010, to a form of literature that was more satirical and commented on contemporary developments in society. Silverberg continues to argue that the ‘Golden Age’ of science fiction was the 1950s and not the period of 1938-1946, like most historians argue. To name just a few writers that flourished in the ‘50s: James Blish, Jack Vance, Arthur C. Clarke, James E. Gun, and of course C.M. Kornbluth, Frederik Pohl, and Philip K. Dick.

Science fiction and its relationship to sociology

Science fiction writer Brian M. Stableford wrote in the introduction to his book The Sociology of Science Fiction, that ‘[i]maginitive fiction has generally been held to be less interesting sociologically.’26 Stableford notes that these forms of fiction are often seen ‘as evidence of a retreat from confrontation with social reality.’ However, he argues that ‘where charges of “escapism” are justified, the strategies of escape may themselves be of considerable sociological interest.’27 Neil Gerlach and Sheryl N. Hamilton find that social science fiction dates back to the 1950s. They argue in their article that the concept of social science fiction ‘is a productive institutional exchange, cultural site, and evolving epistemology.’28 America’s post-war years saw the full-scale development of a modern society; economic prosperity and technological innovation provided America with the opportunity to grow. However, while these opportunities provided material abundance and opportunities for the individual, equally they changed the fundamental structure of American society. Sociologists like William H. Whyte, Herbert Marcuse and John Kenneth Galbraith heroically wrestled with the complexities of such social changes. In this thesis, I will expand on Stableford, Gerlach, Hamilton’s, and Kornbluth’s ideas and examine whether science fiction can be understood as a form of social criticism. To do so, I will look at two science fiction novels from the 1950s and 1960s, the first novel being The Space Merchants, by Frederik Pohl and C.M. Kornbluth, the second novel being Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick. In the field of science fiction studies, this type of study is not new. In fact, many science fiction writers, academics and critics have written about science fiction and its affiliation to sociology. Often these critics conclude that while there may be aspects in a science fiction novel that are relevant to

25 Silverberg, Robert, “Science Fiction in the fifties: The Real Golden Age” in American Science Fiction: Classic Novels of the 1950s (The Library of America, 2010), Available at: http://www.loa.org/sciencefiction/why_silverberg.jsp#top [Last Accessed: 04/08/2015] 26 Stableford, Brian M., The Sociology of Science Fiction, (Wilbraham: Van Volumes Ltd., 1987), p. 7 27 Ibid., p. 7 28 Gerlach, Neil; Hamilton, Sheryl N., “Introduction: A History of Social Science Fiction” Science Fiction Studies, Vol. 30, No. 2, Social Science Fiction (Jul., 2003), p. 161 7

contemporary social issues, the viability of this critique gets lost in a whirlwind of scientific discrepancies. This thesis wishes to contribute to this academic discussion by comparing and contrasting two science fiction novels from two different eras. In doing so, I will allow myself to review whether either novel discusses the themes that are relevant to contemporary social issues. Both novels will be discussed separately in their own respective chapters. Each chapter will consist of several subsections. The chapters have an identical format: starting with a brief introduction to the novel and its authors, I will provide a synopsis, after which I start my analysis of the novels. Firstly,I will examine the fictional reality that either novel offers; what aspects can the reader relate to? How important is it for a reader to be able to relate? Secondly, I will look at the protagonists, their thoughts, emotions and social relationships. Lastly, I will examine how both novels discuss several social issues in contemporary American society. In my analysis of The Space Merchants, I will examine the ways in which the novel presents and discusses two social issues; America’s class system and the development of corporate power. In my analysis of Do Androids, I will examine the ways in which the novel engages in discussions surrounding religion and the relationship between man and the machine. Throughout my analysis of the novels, I refer to several sociologists and social critics as mentioned earlier. Doing so allows me to consider whether the topics discussed in the novels are relevant to contemporary social critique. It equally allows me to form a better understanding of the topics.

Chapter 1: The Space Merchants (1953)

1.1 Introduction

I have chosen to analyse The Space Merchants as my first novel. It is written by Frederik Pohl and C.M. Kornbluth and was published in 1952. Both Pohl and Kornbluth served in the US military in World War II. The Encyclopaedia of Science Fiction informs us that Kornbluth began writing science fiction in 1947, ‘and quickly established himself as a brilliant short story writer.’29 Pohl started writing in 1950 and produced a series of ‘slickly ironic short stories ... mostly satires with a hint of black comedy.’30 Both authors made their first début as science fiction novelists with their publication of The Space Merchants. In 2012, the novel appeared in The Library of America’s science fiction box-set American Science Fiction: Nine Classics of the 1950s. Trevor Berrett, editor of the on-line literary magazine The Mookse and the Gripes, finds that The Space Merchants consists of ‘the basic building blocks for many works of socially-aware fiction.’ He categorises the novel in the sub genre of ‘the corporate dystopia’ and adds that ‘The Space Merchants is, in many ways, their forebear.’ Gathering from Berrett’s comments, The Space Merchants is simply a novel that presents a future in which corporations take over the world. He even claims that this sub genre is only ‘claiming to be science fiction’ and that this kind of writing ‘does not challenge our perspectives or incite us to action.’31 This comment is similar to the quote by one of the authors of the novel, C.M. Kornbluth, who felt that the science fiction novel often does not qualify as social criticism as ‘no science fiction novel has ever ... started wars ... caused revolutions ... got laws passed’ or ‘changed customs and attitudes.’32 The purpose of this chapter is to show, by example of The Space Merchants, that science fiction literature of this kind can be understood as social criticism. While ‘corporate dystopia’ describes the novel adequately, I contend that this label does not devalue the novel as a form of social criticism. On the contrary, the themes that are concerned with the growing corporate world in The Space Merchants are very fitting to the novel’s contemporary social environment and social critique. The topics discussed in the novel are relevant to its time, which I argue is an essential component to the novel’s ability to act as social criticism.

29 Clute, John; Nicholls, Peter (eds.), “Kornbluth, C. M.”, The Encyclopaedia of Science Fiction. Apr. 2 2015. Available at: http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/kornbluth_c_m [Last Accessed: 04/08/2015] 30 Clute, John; Nicholls, Peter (eds.), “Pohl, Frederik”, The Encyclopaedia of Science Fiction. Apr. 3 2015. Available at: http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/pohl_frederik [Last Accessed: 04/08/2015] 31 http://mookseandgripes.com/reviews/2012/11/06/frederik-pohl-and-c-m-kornbluth-the-space-merchants/ 32 Kornbluth, C.M., “The Failure of the Science Fiction Novel as Social Criticism” in Davenport, Basil, et al., The Science Fiction Novel: Imagination and Social Criticism (Chicago: Advent Publishers, 1969), p.52 9

1.2 Synopsis

The narrative is set in the 22nd century and follows the protagonist, Mitchell Courtenay, as he falls into the hands of his company’s arch enemy. Mitch is a top-rated, “star-class” copywriter who works for a monopolistic advertising corporation called Fowler Schocken Associates. He is promoted to an executive position in which he assumes responsibility over the ‘Venus project,’ which aims at attracting millions of people to emigrate to an inhospitable Venus. The world in which Mitch lives is overpopulated and suffers an immense scarcity of raw materials. Instead, science has developed processed food. Mitch lives in the futuristic version of New York City, consisting of buildings up to a hundred stories high, in which the executives enjoy their luxuries in “executive country” on the top floors. Apart from a marginal percentage marginal percentage of executives, the rest of society is confined to the lower staircases of these buildings often living in unhygienic and dangerous environments. These unidentifiable masses are simply referred to as ‘consumers.’ As well as overpopulated, the world is highly polluted needing ventilators and ‘anti-soot plugs’ for survival. Fowler Schocken, Mitch’s boss, is endlessly competing against his ultimate rival, Taunton Associates. Together they have already managed to gain control over all governmental procedures and are involved in continuous warfare. It is in this context that Mitch is trapped in the life of a consumer by the name of Groby W. George, after someone faked his death and altered the social security number tattooed on his arm. This leaves him no choice but to live his new life working as a ‘skum-skimmer’ in a factory producing genetically modified chicken in Costa Rica. On his adventure he is approached by ‘the Conservasionists’ or simply, the ‘Consies,’ an underground political movement concerned with conserving the environment. Any affiliation with this movement is strictly forbidden, but Mitch sees no other way than to socialise with them if he has any chance of making it back to New York, back to his ‘wife’ Kathy. Kathy, a ‘star-class’ surgeon, entered a one-year probation marriage with Mitch where they took ‘interluctory vows.’ With only four months to go, Kathy is having doubts about the marriage and refuses to put her ‘certificate’ on file if he does not change his money-minded outlook.

1.3 The Fictional Reality

The Space Merchants is set in the 22nd century and provides the reader with an exaggerated version of the contemporary reality. Pohl and Kornbluth consider what the future would look like if contemporary society would continue would grow the way it has been. In the future they imagine, cities have continued to grow; corporations have continued to gain more power; money and status have continued to put pressure on society; and ignorance towards issues concerning the environment has continued without much resistance. The novel speculates what the consequences

would be if these factors would continue to develop. Within this speculation, the time frame is less significant; the objective is not to consider that these developments will occur, but what would happen if these developments were to occur. So whether this reality is set in 1992 or in the 22nd century, the bottom line is that the reader considers the possible consequences of the development of the status quo. Although most aspects of The Space Merchants are made up, some which the reader might not be able to relate to or understand, often these fictional aspects have a clear relation to the contemporary reality of the reader. An example that demonstrates this point is the ‘anti-soot plugs’ that people need to wear to survive in the open air. Although no such thing existed in 1953 and people certainly did not walk around with ‘plugs’ in their nostrils, the use of these plugs in The Space Merchants is a direct consequence of pollution; something that people most likely were familiar with, or were starting to become familiar with in the 1950s.

1.4 The Protagonist

William H. Whyte published a book in 1956 called The Organization Man. This book sets out to explore the increasingly difficult role the organisation plays in modern man’s life. Loyalty, conformity and the shift from a protestant ethic to what he terms ‘the Social Ethic,’33 are three themes which are fundamental in outlining the characteristics of ‘modern man.’ I use this term to refer to a selection of prototype characteristics that can be attributed to a growing technologically-minded, business-oriented, and bourgeois-aspiring middle class. The ideology of Horatio Alger’s ‘self-made man’ in a society with a growing job market led to an increasingly competitive environment in which modern man is encouraged to conform to his company’s needs and requirements in order to be successful. Driven by newly developed materialistic values, modern man’s need to succeed financially in order to uphold his consumer behaviour often overshadowed the ethical discrepancies of his actions. Whyte confirms the existence of this trend and furthermore theorises that this ‘greater fealty to the Organization can be viewed as a psychological necessity for the individual.’34 Mitchell Courtenay, the protagonist in The Space Merchants is the epitome of William H. Whyte’s ‘well-rounded executive.’ Fowler Schocken Associates, the company to which he is utterly devoted, represents the increasingly monopolistic, highly competitive dynamics of the corporate world, which is demonstrated in the following passage:

33 ‘By Social Ethic I mean that contemporary body of thought which makes morally legitimate the pressures of society against the individual. Its major propositions are three: a belief in the group as a source of creativity; a belief in ‘belongingness’ as the ultimate need for the individual; and a belief in the application of science to achieve the belongingness’ (Whyte, 1956: 11-12) 34 Whyte, William H., The Organization Man (Victoria: Penguin Books, 1956), p. 153 11

Fowler Schocken said: ‘We have a nice conference room here, men. As we should have, since Fowler Schocken Associates is the largest advertising agency in the city. We bill a megabuck more than anybody else around. And –‘he looked around at all of us – ‘I think you’ll agree that we all find it worth while. (2)

While the competitive pep talk continues, Mitch initially seems undisturbed. However, when ‘a forest of hands’ is raised after Fowler asks his employees to contribute to the self-indulging board room meeting, Mitch admits: ‘God help me, mine was right up there too.’ (3) Although Mitch’s behaviour appears uncontrollable, Whyte is assured that the organization man is well aware of his merging into a collective entity, but it is precisely his ability to be aware ‘that they are not too easily distinguishable from the others’.35 In confirmation of this point, Mitch explains on the following page: ‘every one of us got up and said in turn about the same thing. Including me. It was easy; I’d been doing it for years.’ (7) This forced participation feeds into the notion that modern man’s emotional and psychological self is predominantly and continuously guided by his organisation. As a result, and according to Whyte and his contemporaries,36 modern man inevitably starts seeing the impact his organisational characteristics are having on other areas of his life; i.e. his relationship. Whyte’s book left a legacy of controversy in the field of organisational studies, mostly due to its confrontation of the most essential element to the American ideology; that success is no longer achieved by ‘hard work, personal independence, the quest for freedom, thrift, and competitive struggle’37 as critic and management expert Earl B. French puts it, but by group incentive and one’s need for a sense of ‘belongingness.’ In essence, French finds that Whyte implies that an employee has lost his or her will to succeed through hard work and personal independence, and instead is overcome by a need for ‘belongingness.’ As demonstrated by the points made above, Mitch’s character resembles Whyte’s description of ‘the organization man’ closely. The Space Merchants hereby allows itself to indirectly confirm Whyte’s social criticism through the portrayal of Mitch’s character. Although Mitch’s enthusiasm during the company’s meetings might be somewhat contrived, throughout the novel his loyalty to the company never falters. The Space Merchants attempts to incorporate a morale in its narrative; namely, that those living at the top of the spectrum should be

35 Whyte, William H., The Organization Man (Victoria: Penguin Books, 1956), p. 124 36 Joseph Bensman and Arthur Vidich argue for the correlation between one’s economic position and their psychological self; ‘the existing social relations, self-definitions, futurity expectations and world images are continuously altered by the movement of the business cycle’ (Olsen, 1963: 444); Daniel Miller and Guy Swanson: ‘[e]asy relations with other people are also hindered by the kind of control and manipulative activity fostered by an entrepreneurial society’ (Olsen, 1963; 456) 37 French, Earl B., “The Organization Scientist: Myth or Reality” The Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 10, No. 3 (Sep., 1967), p. 269 12

aware of what their companies do to people at the bottom of the spectrum. However, although Mitch seems aware of the effects of his advertising, as demonstrated in the following passage:

On the ground it was plain hell. I should have been planning, planning. But the channels of my mind were choked by: ‘From the sun-drenched plantations of Costa Rica, tended by the deft hands of independent farmers with pride in their work, comes the juicyripe goodness of Chlorella Proteins . . .’ Yes; I had written those words. (73-74)

Not once does he have an epiphany by which he realises his company should change its ethical foundation because the ideological banner of the independent farmer that his company has been selling to its consumers could be deemed immoral. William H. Whyte confirms the existence of this trend among organisation men by stating the organisation man essentially ‘worries very little of the ultimate outcome for society, but rather that the ends of the organisation and morality coincide, and that on such matters as social welfare, they give their proxy to the organization’38 This continuous devotion to the company is highlighted as Mitch embarks upon his journey back to New York; a phone call to his company brings up feelings different to those expected from one who has seen the devastating effects of his company’s actions:

The memories it brought back of Board mornings with their brilliance of dialectic interplay, hard and satisfying hours of work climaxed with a ‘Well done!’ and shrewd guidance through the intricacies of the calling overwhelmed me with nostalgia. I was almost home. (136)

His overwhelming need to return to New York is not to take on the heroic task of changing the corporate world, but instead he simply wants to return to his old life of comfort, regardless of the suffering of others. Not once on his journey does Mitch mention his actual home, indicating the merging of his life and his job to such an extent that he calls it ‘home.’ While the novel does not overtly discuss the notion that modern man increasingly struggles to identify the boundary between his profession and the prospect of family life, the overall absence of a family unit vis-à-vis the presence of Mitch’s semi-romantic relationship with Kathy is worth noting. Her continuous contempt of his work ethic strains their relationship. However, Mitch’s longing for Kathy throughout the narrative as well as their passionate reunion in the concluding chapters legitimises their romantic feelings toward each other. What ends up affecting their relationship significantly is Mitch’s tendency to determine what he finds important. It is in the nature of his job to make short-term profit rather than ensure long-term sustainability. This somewhat unattractive trait unfortunately bleeds into his relationship as well.

38 Whyte, William H., The Organization Man (Victoria: Penguin Books, 1956), p. 12 13

When Mitch barges into Kathy’s work to tell her the good news of his promotion and she protests, he begs: ‘Nothing is as important as this, Kathy.’ (11) Moreover, Mitch seems unaware of his self- centred attitude until the very end of the novel. When he finds out about Kathy’s involvement with the Consies and her endless effort to make him aware of his attitude, he simply tells her to call Fowler Schocken; ‘The hell with her . . .,’ (136) he thinks unforgivably. Throughout the novel, Mitch describes his relationship in contradictory ways. While the reader has no reason to believe he is not fully dedicated to Kathy, by her discontent and his description of their relationship shortly before his disappearance, the reader is introduced to the new found dynamics of modern man’s relationship in a consumer’s world:

Kathy and I were going steady again. We were still under separate cover, but I was buoyantly certain that it wouldn’t be long now. Sometimes she dated me, sometimes I dated her. We just went out and had fun eating well, drinking well, dressing well and feeling that we were two good-looking people enjoying life. (48)

The disturbing fact that he does not mention anything other than the materialistic value of their relationship is the reason for the ongoing failure of their relationship. Kathy refuses to ‘put her certificate on file’ and end the eight-month interim marital contract, because she fears that her suspicions will end by becoming reality; ‘[a]nybody could marry a girl who’d be a housewife. But it took a Mitchell Courtenay to marry a first-class rated surgeon and make her a housewife’ (28). The disregard Mitch shows for Kathy’s profession as a physician alludes to the notion that Mitch found his interest in Kathy solely on the basis that she is of ‘star-class’ ranking. The novel hereby depicts the problematic developments within modern society concerning the growing importance of one’s class- status through Mitch, while Kathy represents the opposition to this development. The Space Merchants first introduces the notion of emotional management through Mitch’s use of a pre-defined expression in the work place: ‘Expression One – eagerness, intelligence, and competence.’ (4) He openly admits his behaviour to be a result of his boss’ hypnotising words. Moreover, when Mitch returns to his boss and tells him of his adventures as a lower-class consumer, Schocken refuses to believe his words and assigns him to his ‘analyst’ instead. Although Mitchell Courtenay’s money-orientated outlook would be considered controversial and flawed to any reader in the 20th and even 21st century context, it is precisely by use of these confrontational characteristics that the novel succeeds in conveying a message that is critical of an existing current of the American society. In addition, as the novel is written form a first person perspective, the reader is more directly involved in Mitch’s actions, which has an advantageous effect as it forces the reader to contemplate his actions in comparison to his own instincts.

1.5 Social Issue: The Class System

In the post-war years, mass consumption increasingly epitomised Western capitalist ideals, which in turn were crucial to fighting the ideological battle against Communism. Within this battle, the notion of class relations was a crucial phenomenon: which political and economic system would truly endorse a healthy classless society? While the existence of a classless society never became an entirely uncontested phenomenon in America, with the prospect of widespread postwar prosperity, the prospect of a classless society seemed momentarily achievable. The most significant evidence for the success of capitalism was its creation of ‘economic egalitarianism,’ as Lizabeth Cohen contends in A Consumer’s Republic: The Politics of Mass Consumption in Postwar America (2004). Supposedly ‘a distribution of American abundance’ was more effective than the Soviet’s attempt at creating a classless society.39 Eisenhower claims in an address at the National Automobile Show Industry in October 1960 that “[t]hey [the Soviets] fail to realize that he [the American working class man] is not the downtrodden, impoverished vassal of whom Karl Marx wrote. He is a self-sustaining, thriving individual, living in dignity and freedom.”40 This rather powerful statement of American capitalistic ideals is not immediately contested by any of the social critics discussed in this thesis. The absence of such discourse is undoubtedly due to fears of being affiliated with Communism; the ‘black-and-white’ perception of this ideological battle did not allow for much freedom of critique. Reflecting on Eisenhower’s statement, however, some discrepancy is found when considering the vast currents of discrimination that burdened American society. Within this development and under the approval of capitalistic mentality, competitive values inevitably manifested caused and an inhospitable environment for those within society who were burdened by a financial or racial handicap. Cohen equally points to an exacerbation of inequality within the middle class suburban communities, caused by private real estate markets, which over time developed ‘new kinds of hierarchies.’41 While a successful national GDP measured by material abundance provided a strong foundation to the capitalist argument, under the surface, mass consumption was slowly developing irreversible and detrimental consequences of disparity, gradually breaking down the illusion of a classless society. This section will assess how The Space Merchants addresses the more sensitive issues resonating in American society throughout the 1950s and ‘60s.

39 Cohen, Lizabeth, A Consumer’s Republic: The Politics of Mass Consumption in Postwar America (New York: Vintage Books, 2003), p. 124 40 “Address in Detroit at National Automobile Show Industry Dinner,” Oct. 17, 1960, Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1960-61 (Washington, DC: USGPO, 1961), p. 769 cited in Cohen, Lizabeth, A Consumer’s Republic: The Politics of Mass Consumption in Postwar America (New York: Vintage Books, 2004), p. 125 41 Cohen, Lizabeth, A Consumer’s Republic: The Politics of Mass Consumption in Postwar America (New York: Vintage Books, 2004), p. 200 15

Sociologist Ludwig Von Mises argued in his controversial42 book The Anti-Capitalistic Mentality (1956), that those who complain about capitalism must remind themselves of the good that capitalism has brought to the West, particularly compared to other countries who live by socialist ideals. He contends that living standards in the U.S. have undeniably improved since capitalism has prevailed: ‘Capitalism deproletarianizes the “common man” and elevates him to the rank of “bourgeois.’43 John Kenneth Galbraith, author of The Affluent Society, largely agreed by finding that ‘the ordinary individual has access to amenities – foods, entertainment, personal transportation, and plumbing – in which not even the rich rejoiced a century ago.’44 The major flaw in this argument is the way in which they measure this standard of living: almost exclusively by the notion that goods are available to everyone. The Space Merchants offers the exact opposite to this argument: that those who live at the bottom of the spectrum are not automatically handed a ticket which grants them endless opportunities. Instead, the novel suggests that America’s middle class will continue grow into a consumer society of which the ‘star-class’ executives will be the puppeteers. In the novel’s fictional reality, the majority of society lives below a middle class standard of living, meaning that only a small minority of the population enjoy the basic privileges that Galbraith speaks of. The symbolisation of this class divide is noteworthy. In the novel’s overpopulated urbanised world the buildings signify the fictional reality’s ranking system; the consumer population is confined to the staircases and live under strict contracts set by the corporations who own the buildings. The symbolisation represents the notion of ‘climbing up the ladder’ which paradoxically is only available to those at the higher end of the ladder. Symbolising the fictional reality’s hierarchical system in such a manner is significant particularly in the latter chapters when Mitch, identified as Groby, has to take the stairs to and from the executive country as his consumer status does not allow him to take the lift:

I knew already about climbing up stairs. I learned then about climbing down stairs. If your heart’s in good shape there’s little to choose between them. It took me an estimated thirty minutes in my condition to get down the ladders of the executives’ country and on to the populated stairs below. (120)

The sheer distance between the executives’ country and the ‘populated stairs,’ – ‘an estimated thirty minutes’, as well as Mitch’s initial ignorance of the population’s living conditions, signifies the

42 Gabriel Kolko comments on the inadequate conclusions made by sociologists on their false information concerning income distribution patterns, he refers to it as ‘the myth of income redistribution’ (Olsen, 1963: 115) 43 Von Mises, Ludwig, The Anti-Capitalistic Mentality (New York: D. Van Nostrand Company, Inc., 1956), p. 2 44 Galbraith, John Kenneth, The Affluent Society, 4th ed. (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1984), p. 2 16

growing social and economic gap between the lower class citizens and their upper class puppeteers. The use of the word ‘ladders’ instead of stairs when referring to the executive country is equally significant in the novel’s attempt at representing the illusion of social mobility. Sociologist and historian J.O. Hertzler finds truth in this concept as she writes in her 1952 article:

We have placed considerable emphasis in our sociological analysis of social mobility upon the societal organizations and the institutions that serve both as social “ladders” or “staircases” for vertical circulation, and as “sieves” or “sifters” which test and select, sort and grade the members of the population, and distribute and locate them in the strata where their functions, obligations, and rights are commensurate with their demonstrated and tested abilities.45

If the novel’s representation is understood as a relatively exaggerated but realistic reflection of American society in the 1950s, the novel implies that the middle class will continue to grow but simultaneously become increasingly confined as organisations gain more leverage and continue to expand at the expense of its consumers. The floor numbers that are mentioned add value to this representation: ‘[f]ortunately, there were no sleepers above the seventy-eighth; I was in executive country’ (105). Mitch ‘moving to the eighty-ninth’ (10) when he receives his promotion to ‘star-class’ ranking further demonstrates this point. The mere ten executive floors, compared to the seventy- eight citizenry floors denotes the extremely marginal percentage of people living ‘the American way of life’ (33) C. Wright Mills discusses the notion of America’s ‘power elite,’ and comes to the conclusion that these upper social classes exist primarily due to a lack of ‘nobility or aristocracy, established before the capitalist era, [which] has stood in tense opposition to the higher bourgeoisie. It means that this bourgeoisie has monopolized not only wealth but prestige and power as well.’46 Without any clear indication as to one’s social position, the illusion is upheld that anyone could rise up from the lower to the upper classes. However, what The Space Merchants implies is that this simply remains an illusion. The reader is soon confronted by the realities of the lower class population as Mitch wakes up on his journey to Costa Rica and realises he is not in a ‘throbbing, strumming inferno.’ (67). He scans his surroundings:

The confusion did not last long. One of the attendant devils shook my shoulder roughly and said ‘Gimme a hand, sleepy. I gotta stow my hammock.’ My head cleared and it was very clear that he was simply a lower-class consumer – perhaps a hospital attendant? (67)

45 Hertzler, J. O., “II. Dynamics of Class and Role: Some Tendencies toward a Closed Class System in the United States” Social Forces, Vol. 30, No. 2 (Mar., 1952), p. 313 46 Mills, C. Wright, “The Power Elite” in Olsen, Philip, America as a Mass Society: Changing Community and Identity (New York: The Free Press of Glencoe, 1963), p. 90 17

Leaving aside the alarming factor of his lower-class ranking as a hospital attendant (certainly one of society’s more honourable jobs), the hospital attendant is being stripped of the significance of his profession and instead measured by his consuming capabilities. If the consumer class represents the American middle class, the novel’s continuous reiteration of the consumer-class status is indicative of an underlying concern that any middle class American might not be cast as anything different than a consumer. Mitch is told he is on a ‘Labour Contract B,’ which he soon finds is a self-perpetuating and endless vicious cycle of borrowing money with interest to the point where he is deprived of any prospect of upward mobility. The illusion that anyone on such contract even has the slight possibility of improving his own standard of living is continuously kept alive as we find from one of Mitch’s ‘colleagues’ aboard the ship to Costa Rica:

‘I’m gonna hit the comeback trail though.’ A sparkle crept into his eye. ‘I’m gonna introduce new and efficient methods in the plantations. I’ll be a foreman in a week. I’ll be works manager in a month. I’ll be a director in a year. And then I’m gonna buy the Cunard Line and plate all their rockets with solid gold. Nothing but first-class accommodations. Nothing but the best for my passengers. I always kept her smooth on the Atlantic run. I’ll build you a gold- plated imperial suite aboard my flag ship, Punchy. (68)

The clear presence of the ‘American dream’ ideology in this passage contests Ludwig’s notion that prosperity reigns while opportunity is available to all. It simultaneously ridicules the foundation of American ideological rhetoric. Moreover, a more in-depth reading of The Space Merchants reveals that the novel is able to convey a message that, if directly interpretable, would undoubtedly have been deemed politically incorrect considering the novel’s contemporary political scenery. Within this reading, the Conservationist movement can be seen as the proletariat, who, for fear of being prosecuted by the capitalist authorities, have to meet in secret. The direct affiliation to a Marxist train of thought is well-hidden by two aspects. Firstly, the objective of the Consies is to address the environmental issues that arise in the wake of corporate misconduct; they do not explicitly have the intention of exposing the dire conditions of the poor and overthrowing the bourgeoisie. When Mitch is first confronted by the Consies on the Chlorella plantations he is handed the following leaflet, which states their objectives:

The W.C.A. is a secret organization persecuted by all government of the world. It believes that reckless exploitation of natural resources has created needless poverty and needless human misery. It believes that continued exploitation will mean the end of human life on Earth. It believes that this trend may be reversed if the people of the Earth can be educated

to the point where they will demand planning of population, reforestation, soil-building… (86-87)

While the term ‘exploitation’ appears on numerous occasions within the Consie dialogue, this passage exemplifies a reluctance to extend the political connotation of this word any further. The Consies do not oppose capitalism, they simply oppose the unethical behaviour that has resulted from it. Secondly, the Consies are not inextricably linked to the Marxist notion of overthrowing the upper classes by the fact that members are not exclusively from the lower classes. Indeed, many of Mitch’s colleagues end up being part of the Conservationist movement. The benevolent nature of the Consies within this fictional reality is notable, because several other aspects certainly imply that the Consies are at least slightly representative of Marxist thought. The Consies’ concern for the unethical behaviour of the capitalist giants is representative of Marx’s feeling that the upper bourgeoisie have an exploitative nature; that there is a lack of any moral foundation within the monopolistic corporations. For fear of being undermined by the Conservationist movement, the corporations have ensured that their puppet governments have made sure that any affiliation to the Conservationist movement is illegal. The investigations conducted by institutions like the House Committee on Un- American Activities from roughly 1949-1954, and later on the McCarthy trials, were part of America’s battle against Communism. In the following passage Mitch conducts an interview with a suspected Consie:

The suspect was sitting on a stool under the usual dazzler. He was a white-collar consumer of thirty or so. He had a couple of bruises on his face. ‘Turn that thing off,’ I said. A square-faced foreman said: ‘But we always--’ One of my guards, without wasting words, shoved him aside and switched off the dazzler. ‘It’s all right, Lombardo,’ the board chairman said hastily. ‘You’re to cooperate with these gentlemen.’ ‘Chair,’ I said, and sat down facing the suspect. I told him: ‘My name is Courtenay. What’s yours?’ He looked at me with pupils that were beginning to expand again. ‘Fillmore,’ he said precisely. ‘August Fillmore. Can you tell me what all this is about?’ ‘You’re suspected of being a Consie’ There was a gasp from all the UMPA people in the room. I was violating the most elementary principle of jurisprudence by informing the accused of the nature of his crime. I knew all 19

about that, and didn’t give a damn. ‘Completely ridiculous,’ Fillmore spat. ‘I’m a respectable married man with eight children and another one coming along.’ (157)

Several factors are worth noting in this passage. Firstly, this passage is a clear indication that the novel’s introduction of the Consie movement is reflecting its contemporary political scenery by the fact that it is reminiscent of suspected Communists having to ensure that they are ‘respectable’ men, or in other words, fully endorse capitalist ideals, during the McCarthy trials. Moreover, by presenting the Consies through the eyes of Mitch, the epitome of a business-orientated upper class bourgeois man, the novel seems to endorse rather than critique the movement. Jacques Lemieux agrees to this contention by stating that ‘[t]he narrative’s ending nonetheless contains a ray of hope for social transformation.’47 The novel’s objective of presenting the Consies as a benevolent movement is achieved precisely by the contrast between the Consie leaflets’ reassurance that they are not ‘murderers, psychotics, and incompetent people who kill for irrational ends or out of envy’ (87) and Mitch’s belief that ‘the Consies [will] take over and kill all the rich guys’ (159) In effect, Fowler Schocken Associates embodies the prerequisite of capitalist ideals and is represented in this novel as the ‘bad guy.’ The Consies, however, prove to be the ‘good guys’ and eventually win the moral upper hand at the end of the ‘ideological battle.’ Secondly, this passage demonstrates the satirical comedy that this novel is known for. In The Space Merchants, ‘informing the accused of the nature of his crime,’ is in violation of ‘the most elementary principle of jurisprudence.’ (157) This is a direct reference to Amendment VI of the Constitution which states that ‘In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial ... and to be informed of the nature and cause of his accusation.’48 The trials and investigations that occurred during the Second Red Scare are known for their unfair accusations. Often the accusations would lack any substantial evidence. The novel comments on this fact by creating a fictional world whereby the accused no longer has the fundamental rights granted to them by the Constitution. The fact that this reference was made during an interview that closely resembles the investigations that were taking place at the time of the novel’s publication, reiterates the satirical value of the passage. The use of the name ‘Lombardo’ is equally satirical. The name refers to Antonio Lombardo, an American mobster, who was thought to be the advisor to Al Capone in the 1920s. American mobsters are known to use ‘dazzlers’ to interrogate their opponents. Often this type of interrogation is affiliated with torture and generally deemed an unfair way to question someone. The

47 Lemieux, Jaques; Rosenthal, Ronald, “Utopias and Social Relations in American Science Fiction, 1950-1980” Science Fiction Studies, Vol. 12 No. 2 (Jul.1985), p. 151 48 U.S. Const. amend. VI (1791). Print. 20

fact that Lombardo is about to say that that is how they always conduct their interviews is another comment on the unfairness of many of these trials. While The Space Merchants does not explicitly affiliate itself with Marxist ideas within its narrative, the use of fictional aspects in the novel presents a clear case where science fiction enjoys the freedom to reflect controversial aspects of contemporary society without suffering otherwise inevitable social consequences. By use of the protagonists’ social relation toward these fictional aspects, as exemplified by Mitch’s controversial stance towards an otherwise perfectly benevolent Consie, the author is able to provide fertile ground for contemplation.

1.6 Social Issue: Corporate Power

Karl Marx noted early on that ‘the mode of production of material life conditions the general process of social, political and intellectual life.’49 Through the vast economic developments in postwar America, two major concepts emerged which changed the mentality of America’s aspiring business population and had an irreversible effect on the ideological foundation of American capitalism. Firstly, the sheer financial and material abundance that was created left the business world with a mind-set that profit must continue to be made, but more importantly that businesses must continue to grow. Such a competitive mind-set resulted in the blurring of lines between morality and the ultimate financial objective. Secondly, through this endless necessity for profit- making, business opportunities arose through the notion that everything in capitalism has a price tag. Services otherwise provided by the government and specialised institutions, were now taken over by the corporation. The essence of Marx’s statement resonates clearly in The Space Merchants making the objective of this section to show the novel’s ability to criticise the developments of capitalism. In the conclusive chapters of The Space Merchants, Mitch is handed his share of Fowler Schocken’s company; ‘seventy-five shares of Sponsor’s Stock in the Institute for the Diffusion of Psychoanalytical Knowledge, a New York Non-Profit Corporation’ (152). Mitch discovers upon arrival that his share of the company consists of no more than a ‘shabby three-room suite in downtown Yonkers.’ (153) Indicative of the notion that ‘non-profit’ is simply no longer feasible in the corporate world, this is one of many examples that highlight the increasing leverage that stock-holders and large profit- seeking corporations have over institutions. Moreover, these corporations and share-holders choose where they like to invest; ensuring their own ultimate profit. In the final chapters of the novel, Kathy admits to her affiliation to the Consies and to the reason for her starting a relationship with Mitch:

49 Marx, Karl, A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy (London, 1971), pp.20-21, cited in Mackenzie, Donald, “Marx and the Machine” Technology and Culture, Vol. 23, No. 3 (Jul., 1984), p. 474 21

she wanted to ensure that once planet Venus was handed over to Fowler Schocken Associates, she was there to interfere with their plans so that the planet would not be used for profit-making purposes. The Consies wanted the planet to be used to supply the raw materials needed to improve Earth’s living conditions. Fowler Schocken Associates has assumed a supreme position in the novels fictional world by manipulating its way into ‘owning’ the planet Venus for whichever purpose they see fit. Schocken is determined to ‘colonise’ the planet and send segments of the Earth’s population to Venus in small tin ‘capsules.’ Its inhabitants would live under conditions provided exclusively by Schocken. Kathy’s fear that the corporation would turn a blind eye to the planet’s advantageous raw materials is confirmed by the motto under which the company runs: that science has always proven to be one step ahead of nature.

I had been exposed to Consie sentiment in my time, and the arguments had all come down to one thing: Nature’s way of living was the right way of living. Silly. If ‘Nature’ had intended us to eat fresh vegetables, it wouldn’t have given us niacin or ascorbic acid. (15)

Although a seemingly legitimate claim; in the reader this would evoke a sentiment of ridicule, upholding that, no matter the grave consequences of mass production on the environment, it still would not be considered morally acceptable to ignore them. While such exaggeration is intended to be thought-provoking, this statement simultaneously begs a more intuitive reading: namely, who is ‘us’? If Mitch means ‘us’ as human beings, he automatically assumes that the Consies and himself are on the same wavelength which would undermine his argument. That leaves ‘us’ to be the scientists, which assumes that the company’s employees and the scientist are linked to such an extent that they are considered one and the same. This is a point that I wish to be examine further. William H. Whyte wrote a chapter in his book called “The Fight Against Genius” in which he discusses a development in modern society by which the scientist is increasingly funded by the corporation for lack of funds elsewhere. A paradoxical relationship grows as the scientist is unavoidably spurred by economic necessity and the corporation is in search of the ‘well-rounded scientist’50 to conduct research compliant with their business-oriented incentives. Whyte’s concern is that if such a development were to persist, corporations would become endlessly ‘self-perpetuating’51 and ultimately exceed the

50 In reference to Whyte’s notion of the ‘well-rounded executive’ as discussed in Chapter 1 of this thesis, the ‘well-rounded scientist’ is one whom equally conforms to the company’s needs by adopting a business-minded outlook on their work. (Whyte, 1956: 197) 51 In the introduction to his book, he refers to this term in the context of ‘the middle class who have left home…to take the vows of organisation life’ and gradually become ‘the mind and soul of our great self- perpetuating institutions.’ In reference to the ethical reasoning behind conducting scientific research for business-orientated purposes, the notion of ‘taking a vow’ is reflective of the novel’s representation of the relationship between the corporation and the scientist; it is intended for life, and getting out of it is an expensive, painful process perhaps not worth taking. (Whyte, 1956: 9) 22

possibility for research to be controlled through government. The Space Merchants reflects on this development by presenting a reality in which the government has ceased control over scientific research due to its inability to compete financially with the corporations. Thus this feeds into the debate surrounding the moral implications of a reluctant federal entity that favours corporate success over the ethics of scientific research. In other words, the novel challenges its readers to acknowledge the dangers of a growing interdependency between the scientist and the corporation. Furthermore, the novel traces a broader dilemma by which financial incentives are prioritised over ethical truths. Another ethical dilemma is presented by the corporation’s misuse of scientific jargon used for advertisement purposes. When Mitch is bombarded by Taunton’s advertisements displayed on the tourist rocket’s windows which includes a ‘medical pitch,’ he comments; ‘Taunton’s was great on the gruff medical pitch; you’d think they invented it.’ (60) Taunton’s misusing of the phrase ‘on doctor’s advice,’ making the legitimacy of it obsolete. Moreover, Mitch’s comment thereafter indicates his detachment from the moral implications of misusing the phrase by mocking Taunton’s for having ‘stolen’ the basic technique. Mitch’s encounter with a doctor later on in the novel highlights what effect this misappropriation has had on the profession as he notes after the doctor’s specific line of questions concerning the mysterious death of his secretary on board the space ship;

He was driving at something. He kept asking, and the answers he wanted were as a magician’s forced card. Allergies, easy bleeding, headaches, painful menses, afternoon fatigue – at last he said decisively; ‘I believe it’s Fleischman’s Disease. We don’t know much about it. It stems from some derangement of function in the adrenocorticotropic bodies under free flight, we think. (127)

This passage exemplifies further the notion that the institutions which form the foundation of society’s welfare and scientific development will be undermined as the distribution of capital is increasingly in the hands of the corporations which in turn are increasingly blinded by their need to make profit. The most straightforward point from which I conclude the novel’s objective to critique the business-orientated attitude in American society is when Mitch poses the reader a philosophical question:

Our representative government now is probably more representative than it has ever been before in history. It is not necessarily representative per capita, but it most surely is ad valorem. If you like philosophical problems, here is one for you: should each human being’s vote register alike, as the law-books pretend and as some say the founders of our nation desired? Or should a vote be weighed according to the wisdom, the power, and the influence 23

– that is, the money – of the voter? That is a philosophical problem for you, you understand; not for me. I am a pragmatist, and a pragmatist, moreover, on the pay-roll of Fowler Schocken. (13-14)

Straight away, Mitch distances himself from the traditional American ideologies surrounding the supremacy of law and heroic centrality of the nation’s founders, which, although laced with traces of cynicism, was a train of thought which gradually started to gain ground in a society which found its traditional ideologies to be inadequate at times. The “American Success Ideology” so deeply embedded in American society, Alex Thio finds, ‘has gradually been changed into a reality- manipulating or –distorting ideology of success by a succession of socio-historical forces.’ 52 Moreover, in the context of Mitch’s money-minded outlook on life and by use of the word pragmatist, a term used widely in American political rhetoric, this passage takes direct aim at criticising the influence capital has on the American political scene. Everett Carll Ladd, Jr. in his article examining “The Changing Face of American Political Ideology” alludes to a continuation of Mitch’s ‘philosophical problem’ as he asks the question: ‘[a]re the leader’s perspectives parochial or cosmopolitan, are they dominated by the immediacy of experiences in his local community, or do they reflect familiarity with national politics?’53 Within the essence of the term ‘representative’ the logical answer to Mitch’s problem would be per capita; ‘per unit of population,’ however within the context of a pragmatist mind-set, the more palpable answer inevitably becomes ad valorem– ‘according to value.’ Equally contested in The Space Merchants is the notion that an individual is free to choose their own unique characteristics through the liberties provided to them by their consuming capabilities. While Fowler Schocken Associates provides its costumers with a wide range of commodities, the production of these commodities came secondary to their initial creation of the market to sell these products to. In the first chapter of the novel, Fowler talks to his board room:

He called our attention to the history of advertising – from the simple handmaiden task of selling already-manufactured goods to its present role of creating goods and redesigning a world’s folkways to meet the ends of commerce. (7)

Schocken’s sales tactics have reshaped the world to the point where he rightfully says, ‘’We’ve actually and literally conquered the world.” The novel makes a number of direct commentaries on the extent to which advertising has shifted from providing for the public’s needs to artificially

52 Thio, Alex, “Toward a Fuller View of American Success Ideology” The Pacific Sociological Review, Vol. 15, No. 3 (Jul., 1972), p. 384 53 Ladd, Carll Everett, Jr., “The Changing Face of American Political Ideology” The Massachusetts Review, Vol. 8, No. 2 (Spring, 1967), p. 255 24

manufacturing the public’s wants. The following passage explains the workings of Fowler Schocken’s commodities:

The Crunchies kicked off withdrawal symptoms that could be quelled only by another two squirts of Popsie from the fountain. And Popsie kicked off withdrawal symptoms that could only be quelled by smoking Starr cigarettes, which made you hungry for Crunchies… (85)

The additives that are supposedly ‘not harmful’ ensure that the consumer remains loyal to the product. As every product triggers a desire to consume another, the company equally ensures maximised consumption. Assuming that, as head of the Production Section, Mitch was aware of the stimulants put into his company’s products, the naivety and detachment of his position vis-à-vis the company’s ethical boundaries is highlighted when immediately after his discovery he considers; ‘had Fowler Schocken thought of it in these terms when he organized Starrzelius Verily, the first spherical trust?’ This passage indicates the novel’s tendency toward depicting that a consumer’s ongoing need to consume is not voluntary. However extreme this depiction may seem, it undoubtedly follows a concern raised about the extent of a consumer’s choice. Sociologist Lee Dorothy found from her study published in 1963 about freedom in mass society that the term ‘free’ is almost never used by the person to describe ‘the freedom of oneself,’ but rather by authoritative personalities or entities that wish to ensure the extent of freedom granted to them, but by them.54 So although Mitch feels that he ‘was becoming the consumer we used to love,’(85) that consumer he assumed ultimately had the first choice in his consumer behaviour, is only told he has that choice by the authoritative entity that has already made the choice. In contention with this, social critic Herbert Marcuse confirms that:

Under the rule of the repressive whole, liberty can be made into a powerful instrument of domination. 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. 55

The concept of mass consumption is criticised by pointing to the duping of the consumer as his needs, wants and desires are no longer natural, but instead are carefully and skilfully channelled to meet the pervasive need for profit and the inevitable consequence of overproduction.

54 Lee, Dorothy, “What Kind of Freedom?” ” in Olsen, Philip (ed.), America as a Mass Society: Changing Community and Identity (New York: The Free Press of Glencoe, 1963), pp. 435-436

55 Marcuse, Herbert, One-Dimensional Man: Studies in the Ideology of Advanced Industrial Society (Boston: Beacon Press, 1964), p. 7 25

Chapter 2: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968)

2.1 Introduction

I have chosen to analyse Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (Do Androids) by Philip K. Dick. Theo WolfTiger, wrote for The Guardian in 2015 that ‘Do Androids... has had a tremendous effect on the sci-fi genre as a whole.’56 Philip K. Dick brought a new style to the genre; Umberto Rossi notes that Dick uses ‘[s]uch themes as simulacra/androids, shifting realities, faked history, mass-media politics, onto-theological uncertainty, and mind-altering drugs,’57 which makes his style particular. Dick’s 1968 novel Do Androids is no different; it incorporates all these themes, making it a good example of Dick’s particular style of science fiction writing. Carl Freedman finds ‘that the defining characters of Dick’s fictional worlds are commodities and conspiracies,’ which makes him conclude ‘that Dick is a writer of the 1960s ... a decade that, at least in certain respects, bears a privileged relationship to the commodified and conspirational character of monopoly-capitalist society in the US.’58 John Huntington refers to Dick’s work as being part of ‘a tradition’ of “post-modernism” due to ‘its thorough dependence on the mechanical creative formulas of pulp fiction, and has thus become “authentic” at a new level.’59 Philip K. Dick explained his own style of science fiction writing in a speech given in 1978:

The two basic topics that fascinate me are “What is reality” and “What constitutes the authentic human being?” ... I consider them important. What are we? What is it that surrounds us, that we call the not-me, or the empirical or phenomenal world?60

Science fiction gives Dick the freedom to experiment with space and time travel, which allows him to create multiple realities - which he refers to as ‘universes’61 - within a singular storyline and make the reader contemplate philosophical questions. Science fiction equally allows Dick to question humanity, which he does by juxtaposing ‘man’ and ‘the machine.’ The machine often takes the form

56 WolfTiger, Theo, “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick - Review” The Guardian, Apr. 7 2015, Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2015/apr/07/review-do-androids- dream-of-electric-sheep-phillip-k-dick [Last Accessed: 04/08/2015] 57 Rossi, Umberto “From Dick to Lethem: The Dickian Legacy, and Avant-Pop in Jonathan Lethem’s “Amnesia Moon”” Science Fiction Studies, Vol. 29, No. 1 (Mar., 2002), p. 15 58 Freedman, Carl, “Editorial Introduction: Philip K. Dick and Criticism” Science Fiction Studies, Vol. 15, No. 2, Philip K. Dick (Jul., 1988), p. 123 59 Huntington, John, “Philip K. Dick: Authenticity and Insincerity” Science Fiction Studies, Vol. 15, No. 2, Philip K. Dick (Jul., 1988), p. 152 60 Dick, Philip K., “How to Build a Universe that Doesn’t Fall Apart Two Days Later” 1978. Available at: http://downlode.org/Etext/how_to_build.html [Last Accessed: 05/08/2015] Later published in: Dick, Philip K., I Hope I Shall Arrive Soon (New York: Doubleday, 1985) 61 Ibid. 26

of a humanoid robot, however, as in Ubik (1969), the machine can also be presented through a talking door that refuses to let its owner leave his apartment. While these topics and methods are certainly not new to science fiction, the ‘new level’ that Dick reaches, as Huntington contends, can be explained through Dick’s own words concerning his writing:

It is my job to create universes, as the basis of one novel after another. And I have to build them in such a way that they do not fall apart two days later. Or at least that is what my editors hope. However, I will reveal a secret to you: I like to build universes which do fall apart ... I have a secret love of chaos. There should be more of it. 62

While this ‘chaos’ in Dick’s novels is particular to his style, has ignited criticism, science fiction writers, Stanislaw Lem and Robert Abernathy disagree. They find that ‘humanity does not as a rule succeed in exhaustively or conclusively diagnosing the causes of the afflictions which befall it,’ meaning that the invisibility of the cause of the ‘dire changes’ in Dick’s books ‘also appropriate as an artistic presupposition.’63 Due to Dick’s own particular style in the genre of science fiction, I have chosen to analyse one of his books.

2.2 Synopsis

Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is a 1968 novel which sets out to explore the complexities of modern day life by thought-provoking methods. Set in 1992 in a post-apocalyptic world, severely infiltrated by radioactive dust, Rick Deckard and his wife, Iran, belong to the few ‘regulars’ who are deemed healthy enough to remain on Earth. Those cast off as ‘specials’ or in John Isidore’s case, a ‘chickenhead’ are not allowed to migrate owing to their genetic malfunctions. The rest of Earth’s population has migrated to colonised planets taking along a personal android under UN law. Rick Deckard’s job for the San Francisco Police Department is to ‘retire’ the humanoid robots that have killed their masters on the colonised planets and have escaped to Earth. Rosen Associates, the corporation which manufactures the humanoid robots has developed the new ‘Nexus-6’ android which supersedes the police department’s latest ‘Voigt-Kampf’-testing equipment that had previously been successful in distinguishing an android through its inability to feel empathy. As a bounty hunter, Rick is paid on commission and is struggling to keep up appearances as a moral emphatic man. As Earth is struck by extinction, any real animal is rare. Owning an animal, not only upholds one’s status, but also complies with the standards set by ‘Mercerism,’ a social ethic

62 Dick, Philip K., “How to Build a Universe that Doesn’t Fall Apart Two Days Later” 1978. Available at: http://downlode.org/Etext/how_to_build.html [Last Accessed: 05/08/2015] Later published in: Dick, Philip K., I Hope I Shall Arrive Soon (New York: Doubleday, 1985). 63 Lem, Stanislaw; Abernathy, Robert, “Philip K. Dick: A Visionary Among Charlatans” Science Fiction Studies, Vol. 2, No. 1 (Mar., 1975), p. 57 27

appearing as a religion by which all its followers (‘Mercerites’) show their ability to be moral and emphatic. The police department’s best bounty hunter gets injured trying to retire a list of six Nexus- 6 androids. Not intimidated by the dangers of the task at hand, Rick gladly replaces Dave in the search for the last four androids. His first encounter with Rachael Rosen, a prototype Nexus-6 android, quickly demonstrates the obstacles ahead as he finds his testing equipment has become obsolete and he must rely on his instincts instead. However, neither his instincts nor his sanity remain intact as he falls in love with Rachael and gradually becomes overwhelmed by the groundlessness of his existence vis-à-vis the perplexity of his victims. Struggling with the moral implications of his job, the ambiguity of his surroundings and his existence on a whole, Rick embarks upon a journey by which he successfully completes the honourable task set by his boss, but finds that even this accomplishment is meaningless in a world where everything is artificial.

2.3 The Fictional Reality

Do Androids dream of Electric Sheep? is set in 1992. While science fiction works are often set in a ‘far-off’ future, most of Philip K. Dick’s novels are set in a ‘near’ future. While there is no clear explanation for this occurrence, a letter written by Philip K. Dick sheds a light on Dick’s thoughts concerning science fiction. In 1981, Dick wrote a letter to Jeff Walker, the producer of the film Blade Runner (1982), in which he expressed his amazement for the work of art:

Jeff, after looking -- and especially after listening to Harrison Ford discuss the film -- I came to the conclusion that this is indeed not science fiction; it is not fantasy; it is exactly what Harrison said: futurism. 64

Brendan Gylee notes in his essay that ‘the early years of the 1900’s saw the birth of an art movement known as Futurism ... [t]he movement emphasised and glorified themes that were associated with contemporary concepts of the future.’65 Gylee finds that early signs of Futurism can be seen in literary works by Jules Verne and H.G. Wells in the 1890s, as these works ‘planted the idea in people’s heads that the world of the future didn’t have to resemble the world around them.’66 While Futurism did not last beyond 1944, the movement had a significant impact on science fiction and

64 Philip K. Dick, “Letter to Jeff Walker”, Oct. 11 1981. Available at: http://sean.terretta.com/philip-k-dick-on- blade-runners-stunning-futur [Last Accessed: 04/08/2015] 65 Gylee, Brendan, “Visions of the Future: Philip K Dick “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” Vs Fear Factory “Obsolete”. A Comparative Analysis of the Portrayal of the Future of Modern Art”, p. 4 66 Ibid., p. 4 28

influenced other artistic movements such as Post-modernism. The different settings in Do Androids and The Space Merchants, could be attributed to the fact that ‘the reality of the future was arriving quicker than expected,’ as Gylee puts it. While many of the fictional aspects in Do Androids are unrealistic and unlikely to occur a mere twenty-odd years after the novel’s publication, in hindsight, many of the ideas which are put forward by Dick in 1968 have continued to be relevant in the 21st century. To demonstrate this point, I refer to a blog post for Stanford Law School written by Matt Lamkin in 2012. In the blog-post, Lamkin considers the ‘Penfield mood organ’ and its relevance to the development of Bio-Science and finds that ‘[a]lthough the future is here (the book is set in 1992) and the mood organ isn’t, we are gradually approximating the device through psychopharmacology.’67 So while Dick’s fictional world is highly unlikely to occur at any time, the fictional aspects which he uses are open for interpretation and contemplation even today.

2.4 The Protagonist

Rick Deckard in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is dedicated to his job. Owing to his salary being commission-based, he has been suffering from the skilful accomplishments of the department’s chief bounty hunter, Dave Holden. When Rick discovers Dave’s indefinite absence from his job, he immediately measures how this will benefit him financially. Having made the calculations, he phones the animal shop to enquire about an ostrich he saw in their display. As it dawns on him how difficult the task ahead will be and how little of its reward he will save due to his all- encompassing need to obtain a real-life animal – both for his own sake and his wife’s, ‘He felt depressed. And yet, logically, because of Dave’s sudden disappearance from the work scene, he should be at least guardedly pleased.’ (29) The immoral foundation of his profession as well as the effects this has on his romantic relationship are relatively similar to the representation of modern man in The Space Merchants. Where the two novels differ greatly, however, is in the methods which the authors use to portray the complexity of modern man’s life. While one can relate to both protagonists, Do Androids makes particular use of an extensive range of fictional props. One such fictional prop is the ‘Penfield mood organ.’ Stein Maurice discusses the development of depersonalisation within America’s growing middle class as he finds that ‘no one in the suburb really has to know anyone else as long as appearances are kept up.’68 The ‘stereotyped masks’ behind which suburbanites hide do not allow them to show any raw emotion for fear of being an anomaly.

67 Lamkin, Matt, “Biosci-fi: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick, 1968” Stanford Law School, Nov. 1, 2012, Available at: https://blogs.law.stanford.edu/lawandbiosciences/2012/11/01/biosci-fi-do- androids-dream-of-electric-sheep-philip-k-dick-1968/ [Last Accessed: 04/08/2015] 68 Stein, Maurice, “Sociological Perspectives on the Modern Community” in Olsen, Philip, America as a Mass Society: Changing Community and Identity (New York: The Free Press of Glencoe, 1963), p. 268 29

Tracing these trends of emotional freedom and societal suppression is particularly interesting when forming an understanding of the emotional and psychological dynamics of ‘modern man.’ The complexity surrounding the novel’s representation of emotion ties into a larger theme that reappears in social criticism throughout the 1950s and ‘60s; emotional management. Sociologist and political theorist Herbert Marcuse wrote in the first chapter of his book One-Dimensional Man about the ‘New Forms of Control’ emerging within an industrialised society:

One-dimensional thought is systematically promoted by the makers of politics and their purveyors of mass information. Their universe of discourse is populated by self-validating hypotheses which, incessantly and monopolistically repeated, become hypnotic definitions or dictations. (14)

This analysis provides the notion that while modernisation would seem to provide freedom, both materialistically and emotionally, Marcuse, not unlike his contemporaries, 69 finds that the technological development of society often surpasses the individual’s opportunity to find ‘real’ freedom. Rick relies heavily on his ‘Penfield mood organ’ while his wife does not want to; ‘What difference does it make?’ (5) she asks. To her confused husband, she explains that ‘when I had the TV sound off, I was in a 382 mood; I had just dialled it. So although I heard the emptiness intellectually, I didn’t feel it.’ (3) Rick is aware of the silence of the empty apartments and has a vague idea as to what the world might have been like before the war but ‘like most people he did not care to experience it directly.’ (3) Iran, on the other hand, is worried about the mood organ’s unhealthy effects as she tries so convince Rick: ‘that used to be considered a sign of mental illness; they called it “absence of appropriate affect.”’ (3) While the mood organ is strictly a fictional phenomenon that fits into its fictional environment, certain truths resonate throughout this initial chapter that place the social implications of this device in its contemporary context. Confronted by silence, loneliness and the inability of her material possessions to satisfy her any longer, Iran has fallen into a depression. Without targeting the root of Iran’s depression, Rick instead tries to get her to ‘dial’ other moods on

69 Contrary to the common belief that emotional integrity thrived in the immediate aftermath of an industrialised society through the emergence of consumer culture, is Spurlock and Magistro’s contention that the new found emotional intensity ‘became targets of new forms of suppression.’ Showing one’s true emotions or finding an ‘ideal self’ was certainly not a socially acceptable phenomenon in Victorian societies, however, as John C. Spurlock and Cynthia A. Magistro allude to in their detailed examination of Gladys Bells; neither has this been fully accomplished in industrial societies. Through examining the ‘extensive diaries’ from someone who lived through the jazz age, they find that ‘[m]any areas of Gladys Bell’s emotional life seem more Victorian than jazz era.’ (295) As some emotions – like anger and jealousy – ‘were condemned as dangerous to the self’ Spurlock and Magistro contend, ‘the 1920s already saw the beginning of emotional management in the workplace.’ 30

the electronic device. Furthermore, when Rick returns from his journey with a real-life goat, the simplicity with which he asks ‘[d]oes this cure your depression?...It cures mine’ (149) indicates the lack of understanding Rick has for his wife’s well-being. Moreover, “absence of appropriate affect,” the metal illness of which Iran is assured she suffers from, reappears later on when Rick speaks to his boss about the new Nexus-6 brain unit. He is informed of the psychological research that has been conducted in search of a new measuring device that will detect the androids:

A group of psychiatrists in Leningrad have approached WPO [Soviet Police] with the following proposition. They want the latest and most accurate personality profile analytical tools used in determining the presence of an android – in other words the Voigt-Kampff scale – applied to a carefully selected group of schizoid and schizophrenic human patients. Those, specifically, which reveal a “flattening of affect” (32)

More alarmingly, Rick gives no sign of recognition that the ‘small case of human beings that could not pass the Voigt-Kampff scale’ (32) includes his wife. Even though Rick’s testing equipment has proven to be inadequate in identifying human mental illness, he continues to use it nonetheless, confirming the little understanding he has concerning the severity of the mood organ’s consequences. In effect, the mood organ has allowed humans to transfer their basic, primitive capabilities to a machine, while the ‘empathy box’ artificially stimulates what would otherwise be considered an equally instinctive human phenomenon. In conclusion, the Voigt-Kampff scale’s inability to distinguish humans from androids is not necessarily caused exclusively by the development of the android, but rather by the degeneration of the human. William H. Whyte’s chapter ‘The Tests of Conformity,’ sets out to explore the moral implications of personality and aptitude tests as they are being used within the organisation.

With even the most disciplined mind, it is impossible to erase the influence of one’s own environment and outlook. Testers likewise, and when any have some stray of neuroses themselves, their interpretations can be downright dangerous…Originally, they were meant to be used only as part of an exhaustive clinical diagnosis, and the few men who are expert in them have warned against their application. The tests can sometimes be more a projection of the man who is doing the evaluation than of the man who is being evaluated”70

With regard to Whyte’s latter contention; Rick is confronted by the degeneration of the human subject, including himself, while he tests the potential humanoid android. Each time he detects an android by its inability to show empathy, part of him is reassured that he is still superior to the

70 Whyte, William H., The Organization Man (Victoria: Penguin Books, 1956), p. 173 31

android. His growing need to ‘retire’ the remaining androids develops from his own distress concerning his inability to understand fully his own emotions. The compulsion for the humans to develop accurate testing equipment does not necessarily stem from a fear that androids pose a significant physical threat, but rather from the fear that they continue to demonstrate man’s own inadequacies.

2.5 Social Issue: Man and the Machine

By juxtaposing the individual to the collective, I conclude that a reasonable requirement for the individual is his or her ability to make and be responsible for his or her own decisions. A sense of control is essential to the survival of the individual. After all the individual must be able to survive outside the collective. In Karl Marx’s concept of the ‘valorization process,’ the ‘simple cooperation’ between the different forms of labour that is required to produce ‘use-values,’ result in the formation of a machine. Within this development, the skill of the worker is transferred to the machine which results in the ‘alienation’ of the labourer. ‘[E]ach individual machine-operator…has now been deprived of all significance’71 – the initial notion of ‘self-worth’ is hereby stripped as the individual might be useful to the collective, but not significant for his individual capabilities. The theme ‘man and the machine’ is not new to science fiction. It has been explored in numerous ways, often questioning the development of the machine in how it changes the life of the human. In Do Androids, this theme is used to question not necessarily the machine, but to question humanity. In this section, I will explore this theme briefly by use of several examples. However, as the objective of this thesis is to examine whether the novel constitutes a form of social criticism, I wish to explore whether this theme is being used to discuss the status quo. I will do so by taking into account Marx’s thoughts on the alienation of the human through the development of the machine and then considering how the novel discusses the development of capitalism. Marx’s ideas surrounding worker’s alienation applies equally, although not as overtly, to Dick’s representation of the increasingly challenging relationship between man and the machine. Rick’s colleague, Phil Resch, is overcome by paranoia after being informed that the Nexus-6 brain units are installed with false memories making them unaware of being an android, leading him to suspect he might be one too. He feels the need to reassess whether he is a human by telling Rick about the way he cares for his pet squirrel. ‘Would a squirrel need that? An atmosphere of love? Because Biffy is doing fine, as sleek as an otter. I groom and comb him every other day.’ (113) Rick is fully aware of

71 Marx, Karl, Capital: A Critique of Political Economy (Harmondsworth, 1976), p. 549, cited in MacKenzie, Donald, “Marx and the Machine” Technology and Culture, Vol. 23, No. 3 (Jul., 1984), p. 487 32

Phil being an android but decides he can use his help. In the museum, Phil is confronted by an oil painting;

At an oil painting Phil Resch halted, gazed intently. The painting showed a hairless, oppressed creature with a head like an inverted pear, its hands clapped in horror to its ears, its mouth open in a vast, soundless scream. Twisted ripples of the creature’s torment, echoes of its cry, flooded out into the air surrounding it; the man or woman, whichever it was, had become contained by its own howl. It had covered its ears against its own sound. The creature stood on a bridge and no one else was present; the creature screamed in isolation. Cut off by – or despite – its outcry. (113)

The description of this painting is a direct reference to Edvard Munch’s 1893 painting The Scream. According to Arthur Lubow from the Smithsonian Magazine ‘Munch defined how we see our own age – wracked with anxiety and uncertainty.’72 Dick’s use of this particular painting hereby becomes symbolic; while Phil notes that ‘this is how an android must feel,’ the oil painting arguably represents humans just as, if not more, accurately. Their incessant need to develop new ways of preventing isolation is what ended up making them most isolated. Moreover, their artificially stimulated selves are unable to understand the realities to which they are exposed. Once humans are confronted by the reality of their world ultimate silence caused by the devastating effects of nuclear warfare they find themselves ‘contained by [their] own howl.’ Moreover, within the context of Riesman’s ‘other- directedness,’ this painting depicts an anxiety prevalent among the humans in Dick’s fictional reality which simultaneously reflects concerns within contemporary society. The human’s constant need for approval and recognition by peers, through their ability to empathise, their dedication to Mercerism, etc., provides them the with the illusion that they are individual, decent human beings, clearly distinguishable from the mass-produced androids. However, it is precisely these anxieties, and their subsequent development of techno-scientific and metaphysical artefacts to combat these anxieties that push them further into isolation. This chapter shows the inevitability of collectivisation within an industrialised society. For on one hand, materialistic values emerging from mass consumption continue to develop a society that depends on reciprocal approval to obtain some degree of integrity and social standing, while on the other hand, in search of an individual character, wanting to distinguish oneself from ‘the masses’, one inevitably turns to look for a sense of ‘belongingness,’ for fear of isolating oneself from society.

72 Lubow, Arthur, “Edvard Munch: Beyond The Scream” Smithsonian Magazine (March 2006), available at http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/edvard-munch-beyond-the-scream-111810150/?no-ist [last accessed: 22/04/2015] 33

In his analysis of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Christopher Sims questions the Rosen Association’s objective in continuing to develop androids that ‘convincingly [perform] “human- ness”’73 if the androids’ main purpose is to be a servant for migrants on the colonised planets. Sims concludes that the role of the android has evolved from being a mere servant to becoming a full- fledged candidate to replace human companionship. This fits into the notion that the Rosen Association’s task of simply providing for people’s needs has evolved into creating wants in order to be able to make profit from its products.74 Their continuous advertising is so overwhelming that J.R. Isidore would rather experience ‘the lungless, all-penetrating, masterful world-silence’ (17) for a while than having to listen to advertisements such as:

The custom-tailored humanoid robot – designed specifically for YOUR UNIQUE NEEDS, FOR YOU AND YOU ALONE… [a] loyal trouble-free companion in the greatest boldest adventure contrived by man in modern history (14)

Initially the androids were developed under the auspices of UN law to ensure that the colonisation process would be completed safely and successfully. However, in the aftermath of the catastrophe, and under the general terms and conditions of capitalism, these androids have continued to be developed. Within this understanding, the androids epitomise the existence and continued development of capitalism. Of necessity, capitalism encourages a continuation of Karl Marx’s concept of the ‘valorization process,’75 which Donald Mackenzie points to as ‘the “social form” of the production process specific to capitalism.’76 Every object considered valuable within a capitalist market directly makes a case to be developed into a ‘use-value.’ Within Marx’s train of thought, this process is precisely what has blurred the lines between man and the machine. Through the inherent capitalist determination to build, expand, and make profit, as the Rosen Corporation exemplifies by its development of androids, the product surpasses its original value and instead continues to develop its use-value to the point where it deprives of all significance that what it replaces.77 If the android had simply assumed its role as valued servant to the migrants – as it was offered under UN law – the product would not have surpassed its value and developed thus that it replaces a

73 Sims, Christopher A., “The Dangers of Individualism and the Human Relationship to Technology in Philip K. Dick’s “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?”” Science Fiction Studies, Vol. 36, No. 1 (Mar. 2009), p. 73 74 The notion of manufactured ‘needs’ and ‘wants’ will be elaborated further in ‘Chapter 4: Individualism is Dead.’ 75 ‘A process whereby inputs of certain value give rise to a product of greater value’ (Mackenzie, 1984: 481) 76 Mackenzie, Donald, “Marx and the Machine” Technology and Culture, Vol. 23, No. 3 (Jul., 1984), p. 481 77 This argument derives from Karl Marx’s notion that the valorisation process requires the cooperation of human labour to produce more efficiently. This subsequently leads to ‘the literal alienation of the collective nature of work’ (Mackenzie, 1984: 484) and the increased significance of the machine, which has now become ‘capital’s material mode of existence’ (Marx, 1971: 442) 34

fundamental aspect of human life. Moreover, in reference to Whyte’s notion of the ‘well-rounded scientist,’ the Rosen Corporation finds itself in possession of techno-scientific knowledge and innovation which leads once more to the (financial) inferiority of the federal, or in this case international, entity vis-à-vis the corporate entity. The Voigt-Kampff scale that had been developed to detect the previous android is no longer sufficient; instead, each new android that was being developed required a new set of testing equipment. While these developments can have devastating consequence of the killing of humans that are falsely detected as androids, both the police department and the Rosen corporation continue this competitive struggle. Rick’s boss warns about the consequences of the Voigt-Kampff test turning out to be inadequate;

If your scale factors out a human subject, identifies him as an android –‘ Bryant beamed at him icily. ‘It would be awkward, although no one, absolutely not the Rosen people, will make the news public. Actually, we’ll be able to sit on it indefinitely, although of course we’ll have to inform WPO and they in turn will notify Leningrad. Eventually it’ll pop out of the ‘papes at us. But we may have developed a better scale. (33)

Even though both parties are aware of the dangerous consequences of their rivalry, they choose to keep the immorality of their actions secret. Within the context of Sims’ question earlier on; why do both keep developing equipment to supersede each other, rather than eliminating the root of the problem? The competitive nature between ‘Leningrad’, the psychologist organisation, and Rosen Associates is representative of the fundamental nature of capitalism. Without inter-corporate competition, profit would not be made. All the more reason for both to continue their techno- scientific development, even if the moral implications are unfounded.

2.6 Social Issue: Religion

Will Herberg points to a paradox in American society by which religion is no longer popular for its concern with faith but rather to serve as a means for identification and ‘belongingness’ in an ever- mobilising society. Without taking the religious formalities too seriously, many parts of society become increasingly interested in the social aspects of religion that promise the ultimate means to ‘the American Way of Life.’78 Herberg’s conclusions about this development closely relate to both novels’ depiction of religion. While my analysis of The Space Merchants indicates some recognition of religion’s ongoing transformation, particularly in regard to America as a mass consuming society, the novel does not address religion as extensively as Do Androids. The inconsistency of the novel’s

78 Herberg, Will, “Religion and Culture in Present-Day America” in Olsen, Phillip (ed.), America as Mass Society: Changing Community and Identity (New York: The Free Press of Glencoe, 1963), p. 381 35

representation of religion is precisely the basis upon which this chapter proved useful; namely, it highlights the difference between the novels’ methods of representation. Two distinguished science fiction writers, Robert Abernathy and Stanislaw Lem, propose that ‘what the SF work presents belongs to one time (most often the future), while how it tells its story belongs to another time, the present.’ Moreover, they find that science fiction can be cast as ‘a type of classification, interpretation and rationalization of the visible world that is peculiar to an era.’79 Jacques Lemieux adds to this contention by stating that ‘SF is never anything but an oneiric spatio-temporal transposition of the tensions, hopes, and agonies of their creators’ milieus.’80 With regard to these observations, the objective of this chapter is to analyse the novels’ representation of religion, arriving at conclusions as to the novels’ authors, their social environments, and their writing techniques. How valuable are the fictional aspects if they are simply a reflection of the authors own fears, thoughts and aspirations? Moreover, if a fictional reality or phenomenon allows multiple readings, how valuable is the said phenomenon in the novel’s ability to be socio-politically critical? Mercerism is a religion in the fictional reality of Do Androids which ensures that its followers behave morally. Struck by guilt for causing extinction to all Earth’s animal species, Mercerists commit to Wilbur Mercer’s demands to show their ability to empathise. The ultimate goal is to ‘fuse’ with Mercer and feel a sense of accomplishment in the endless ‘ascent.’ The ‘ascent’ is a psychologically stimulated experience that allows those who own an ‘Empathy Box’ to be part of a collective effort in following Wilbur Mercer who is endlessly climbing a hill. Moreover, Dick continuously uses both ‘ascend’ and ‘descend’ throughout the novel in differing, unrelated contexts:

After a hurried breakfast – he had lost time due to the discussion with his wife – he ascended clad for venturing out. (5) Upon him the contempt of three planets descended. (15) From the useless pole lamp in the living room it oozed out, meshing with the empty and wordless descent of itself from the fly-speck ceiling. (16) The echo of himself ascending: the echo of nothing. (17)

While both terms are not uncommon in differing contexts, the continuous recurrence of the terms in combination with their relevance to the prophecy of Mercerism makes a clear case for symbolisation which begs for a more in-depth reading. J.O. Hertzler contended in 1952 that America’s ‘tremendous

79 Abernathy, Robert; Lem, Stanislaw, “Philip K. Dick: A Visionary Among Charlatans” Science Fiction Studies, Vol. 2, No. 1 (Mar., 1975), pp. 65-66 80 Lemieux, Jacques; Rosenthal, Ronald, “Utopias and Social Relations in American Science Fiction, 1950-1980” Science Fiction Studies, Vol. 12 No. 2 (Jul.1985), p. 149 36

opportunities for the ordinary man’ have ‘made ascent of the socio-economic ladder proverbial.’81 Indeed, this new-found centrality of one’s socio-economic status in post-war America is signified through Mercerism’s largely non-religious affiliations. Although many aspects of this fictional religion closely relate to characteristics of actual religions, many more aspects relate closely to Herberg’s paradoxical notion of the ‘religiousness of a secularist society, the “strengthening of the religious structure in spite of increasing secularisation.”’82 Within the context of Herberg’s contention that religion is becoming increasingly secularised, Christopher Sims finds that Mercerism is in effect the ‘disintegration of all religious institutions, and this removes humanity’s source of comfort and solace in the face of the most persistent metaphysical questions.’83 Within this framework, what the novel attempts to portray is that spiritual leanings will always be present in the development of the human race, and the traditional genesis of religion will equally continue to develop according to human being’s needs. In other words, religion is an entity which corresponds to the development of the human race and is man-made. The conclusion at which I have arrived in this reading in regard to Mercerism is confirmed later on in the novel when the TV personality Buster Friendly announces that Wilbur Mercer is a fake. The metaphysical elements of Mercerism intended to provide humanity with a sense of belongingness that supersedes their control, are thus eliminated. Rick Deckard’s journey whereby he makes the upward ascend in real life on a deserted hill in the rugged countryside of California, confirms that without such a metaphysical entity, humanity assumes the responsibility of making the incomprehensible things in life comprehensible. Sims asks what reason Dick has found to undermine the religion he has created in his fictional universe, but more importantly what was its purpose in the first place? Suggesting that Mercerism was put in place as a reaction to the terrible events caused by World War Terminus, in an attempt at reversing the dehumanising effects of warfare leads Sims to note that while the moral implications were notable ‘as a result there have been no murders on Earth or the colony planets’ (83), the androids are nonetheless completely excluded from Earth’s spiritual movement. Sims’ unveiling of this particular concept implies several things which add to the discussion surrounding the purpose of Mercerism in Dick’s novel. Firstly, if Mercerism is understood as a medium which intends to exclude a particular section of the population, the androids, then the novel’s dialogue on religion extends into comments on the

81 Hertzler, J. O., “II. Dynamics of Class and Role: Some Tendencies toward a Closed Class System in the United States” Social Forces, Vol. 30, No. 2 (Mar., 1952), p. 317 82 Quote: Sklare, Marshall, Conservative Judaism: An American Religious Movement, (Free Press, 1959), p. 39 from Herberg, Will, “Religion and Culture in Present-Day America” in Olsen, Phillip (ed.), America as Mass Society: Changing Community and Identity (New York: The Free Press of Glencoe, 1963), p. 380 83 Sims, Christopher A., “The Dangers of Individualism and the Human Relationship to Technology in Philip K. Dick’s “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?”” Science Fiction Studies, Vol. 36, No. 1 (Mar. 2009), p. 83 37

complexities of inter-religious conflict, and the role religion plays in American society vis-à-vis its prominence in the political arena. The notion of inclusion and exclusion applies to this particular reading, for it is the humans who have decided that Mercerites must have the ability to empathise, while it is equally they who have decided not to refine the androids to such an extent that they have emphatic abilities. This would confirm Sims’ notion that Mercerism exists as a form of social control, but also implies that religion perhaps plays a larger role than that. While Sims finds that the fictional religion to presents ‘a salient example of dehumanization being practised to justify otherwise morally bankrupt actions and attitudes’84 I would argue that Mercerism represents a struggle within American society by which religion has been stripped of its traditional values, that it has lost its fundamental meaning and become both a tool for social control and an asset in the political arena. In regard to the latter point, I refer specifically to the polarising context of 1960s American society by which the rebellious and authority-suspicious nature of the counter-cultural movement was confronted by the rise of right-wing religious fundamentalism. Jill Galvin expands on this concept by stating that Mercerism, and more specifically the empathy box, acts as ‘the state’s optimal homoeopathic remedy: it recuperates the citizen’s transgression into bounds where it can have no consequences.’85 In light of this interpretation, and Jill Galvin’s contention that the technological innovation of the empathy box is simply an ‘extended arm of the government,’86 Mercerism thus represents the paradoxical nature that religion has become a multi-faceted concept which extends beyond strictly societal ideology into political ideology. Secondly, and in regard to one of Robert Bloch’s nine ingredients, ‘the continued rule of Anglo- Saxon culture’87, the concept of Mercerism can be understood in an even larger and more complex political conversation surrounding the moral implications of ‘the missionary movement’ in the history of US imperialism. If, as Sims points out, the androids are consciously excluded from Mercerism by humans who have purposely not given them the ability to empathise for ‘logistical reason…that it would become morally complex to have the androids serve as slaves on the colony planets,’88 this can be read in light of the dubious nature of the Christian missionary movement. Posing as inclusive and benevolent, the Christian movement sets out to help out those deprived of their basic human

84 Sims, Christopher A., “The Dangers of Individualism and the Human Relationship to Technology in Philip K. Dick’s “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?”” Science Fiction Studies, Vol. 36, No. 1 (Mar. 2009), p. 83 85 Galvan, Jill, “Entering the Posthuman Collective in Philip K. Dick’s “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” Science Fiction Studies, Vol. 24, No. 3 (Nov. 1997), p. 417 86 Ibid, p. 420 87 Bloch, Robert, “imagination and modern social criticism” in Davenport, Basil; Heinlein, Robert, A.; Kornbluth, C. M.; Bester, Alfred; Bloch, Robert, The Science Fiction Novel: imagination and social criticism,“ 3rd ed. (Chicago: Advent Publishers, 1969), p. 108 88 Sims, Christopher A., “The Dangers of Individualism and the Human Relationship to Technology in Philip K. Dick’s “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?”” Science Fiction Studies, Vol. 36, No. 1 (Mar. 2009), p. 83 38

rights. Like Mercerism, Christianity promotes the gospel of dignity, respect, and compassion. Its emphasis on ‘the collective’ suggests a non-discriminatory inclusiveness. However, as history has shown, the non-discriminatory aspects of the Christian gospel have not always held up in face of threats to Anglo-Saxon superiority.89 So in light of ‘androids equipped with the new Nexus-6 brain unit’ which ‘had from a sort of rough, pragmatic, no-nonsense standpoint evolved beyond a major – but inferior – segment of mankind [the specials]’ (25-26) the threat to a continuation of human control leads to the development of a Voigt-Kampff test which distinguishes the ‘dangerous’ members of society by exposing their faults. More notably, no clear evidence has been provided by the police department that any of the androids which escaped the colonised planets posed any significant threat to Earth’s population. So while one might not question the police department’s objectives behind ‘retiring’ the escaped androids, this is precisely the worrying aspect that needs examination, those who have created the religion and its prophecies remain superior to its followers and can, in effect, decide upon any alterations. This latter point concerning the moral implications of both the interpretation and realisation of religion is best exemplified in the following passage:

Evidently the humanoid robot constituted a solitary predator. Rick liked to think of them that way; it made his job palatable. In retiring – i.e. killing – an andy he did not violate the rule of life laid down by Mercer. You shall kill only the killers, Mercer had told them the year the empathy boxes first appeared on Earth. And in Mercerism, as it evolved into a full theology, the concept of The Killers had grown insidiously. In Mercerism, an absolute evil plucked at the threadbare cloak of the tottering, ascending old man, but it was never clear what are who this evil presence was. A Mercerite sensed evil without understanding it. Put another way, a Mercerite was free to locate the nebulous presence of The Killers wherever he saw fit. For Rick Deckard an escaped humanoid robot, which has killed its master, which had been equipped with an intelligence greater than that of many human beings, which had no regard for animals, which possessed no ability to feel empathetic joy for another life form’s success or grief at its defeat – that, for him, epitomized The Killers. (27)

The ambiguous nature and ill-defined parameters of Mercerism facilitate Rick’s interpretation of Mercer’s prophecy. His interpretation is deliberately controversial and ties in with a more general discussion concerning the unavoidable inconsistencies in the moral behaviour of a superior being or entity when said superiority’s conduct is not challenged adequately. This passage finds truth in countless other discussions, which is indicative of the novel’s ability to deliver meaningful, thought-

89 Ryan Dunch finds that ‘the attitudes of the missionaries are beside the point when it comes to the crucial question of their effects on indigenous cultures…the intent of the of missionaries to change a culture is frequently confused with the actuality of doing so.’ (Dunch, 2002: 310) 39

provoking social criticism without any direct confrontation due to its use of multifaceted fictional concepts. By the concept of Mercerism, Dick’s novel has not only exemplified the ambiguous nature of religion as it starts intruding into the political and ideological spheres of American society, but the indistinct nature of Mercerism itself has shown the extent to which the fictional aspect in science fiction can be read and understood in multiple ways. The interlinking themes pointed out in this section, some more far-fetched than others, demonstrate the potential of science fiction literature to make sense of ongoing complexities in the field of social criticism.

Conclusion

While I conclude that both novels are a form of social criticism, I find that the novels differ significantly in their methods. Firstly, I will briefly summarise a few points that I made in my analysis of the novels, after which I will offer a conclusion that compares the value of either novel as social criticism. Lastly, I will offer several reasons why this type of study is relevant today in high school education as well as in academia. The Space Merchants is set in a far off future. The world that the novel presents is an exaggerated version of the contemporary reality. Pohl and Kornbluth make use of this fictional world to present their social issues. The satirical value of their novel is due precisely to the fact that the fictional world which they present is still recognisable to the reader. An example in my analysis that demonstrated this point was their reference to the sixth amendment of the Constitution. The factors that are used to make this point are carefully hidden behind fictional names like ‘Consies’ or behind fictional motives like Mitch trying to find his wife Kathy, instead of interrogating the Consie to jail him for his affiliation to the Conservationist movement. The novel’s reference to the Constitution, and its reference to the American mobster Antonio Lombardo are subtleties within the novel’s story line that add to its comical value. While these subtleties do not add much value to the story line, they do have the ability to make a point that criticises contemporary society. Critic David N. Samuelson comments on Pohl’s writing in 1980; he finds that Pohl ‘as a satirist and a thinker, ... is at the top of American SF writers’ but ‘[f]or the most part his work seems to lack, density, an authentic personal voice.’90 This comment equally finds truth in The Space Merchants; the literary qualities of the novel - character, plot, narrative form - are sometimes overshadowed or replaced by the satirical or comical values of the novel. As the objective of this thesis is to examine whether these two science fiction novels constitute a form of social criticism, I find that this lack of literary value in the novel is not of great importance. Most of the points that Pohl and Kornbluth wish to make are clear to any reader; some points require a more in-depth reading. However, if it was simply Pohl and Kornbluth’s objective to produce a piece of satirical comedy, they would have done just that. The value that science fiction adds to the satire they have produced in The Space Merchants is that they have the freedom to use fictional aspects to make points that might otherwise be deemed politically incorrect. An example in my analysis that demonstrated this point was the Conservationist movement. I suggested that the fictional aspect of the Consies represent the proletariat. I have indicated several factors indicate whereby it could be interpreted in such a way. However, I have equally indicated

90 Samuelson, David N., “Critical Mass: The Science Fiction of Frederik Pohl” Science Fiction Studies, Vol. 7, No. 1 (Mar., 1980), p. 80 41

several factors which disassociate the Consies from this affiliation. By use of this fictional aspect, the novel makes a point, but equally the novel makes use of the fact that it is ‘fiction’ to mask the point that is being made. Do Androids discusses its social issues in a different way. While I have been able to subtract several issues that are relevant to the novel’s contemporary social environment, I conclude that this was not the primary aim of the novel. As mentioned in my introduction to the novel, Philip K. Dick is known for raising philosophical questions. Ben East stated in an article published in The Guardian in 2012 that Philip K. Dick should receive ‘considerable credit’ for his novel Do Androids for the fact that ‘neither the book nor the film [Blade Runner] seem dated.’91 The part of my analysis of Do Androids that demonstrates this point best is the novel’s use of the fictional concept of Mercerism. Dick uses this concept to explore several fundamental questions about religion and humanity. While these fundamental questions are indeed still relevant today, the concept of Mercerism equally explores an issue that is relevant to its contemporary social environment; namely the notion that religion is increasingly incorporated into and used as a leverage in the political environment. Mercerism is hereby the vehicle that encourages discussions concerning religion and numerous other topics. In the section titled ‘Reluctance to read or teach science fiction,’ in their article on “Bringing Science Fiction into the Classroom,” Katherine T. Butcher and M. Lee Manning point out that ‘literary science fiction demands a high level of scientific accuracy’ meaning that ‘the errors and inconsistencies found in many science fiction books [ruin] the credibility of the story.’92 Most science fiction is often considered fantastical, unrealistic and filled with aliens, caused primarily by the rapid success of blockbuster films that have attempted to recreate some of the often incomprehensible realities offered by science fiction writers. While such science fiction is often merely aimed at an audience both eager for escapist entertainment and often indifferent to the credibility of a storyline, it is from the outcomes of this thesis that I conclude that those preconceived popularised beliefs concerning the genre of science fiction should be reconsidered. By example of two well-recognised novels in the genre, I conclude that the genre serves as a vehicle for debate on social issues. While both novels differ in their techniques and the topics they discuss, my analysis of these novels has demonstrated their ability to add value to the conversations through their ability to speculate freely and offer thought-provoking and somewhat controversial alternative realities. Science fiction still remains a ‘fan-based’ culture today; even classic science fiction novels are not read by the majority of

91 East, Ben “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K Dick - review” The Guardian 29 Apr. 2012, available at http://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/apr/29/do-androids-dream-electric-dick-review [Last Accessed: 04/08/2015] 92 Bucher, Katherine T.; Manning Lee M., “Taming the Alien Genre: Bringing Science Fiction into the Classroom” The Alan Review, Vol. 28, No. 2 (Winter 2001), p. 41 42

the people. However, I argue that science fiction can be useful for educational purposes. The Space Merchants, for example, can be a valuable addition to history classes. The novel discusses social issues that were relevant in the 1950s. Moreover, the novel comments on these social issues in ways that history books cannot, or would not have been able to do in similar ways. Do Androids can be a valuable addition to philosophy classes. The novel address fundamental questions about humanity and reality. Moreover, the novel is able to transfer the complexities of these questions into fictional worlds. In essence, Dick is able to ‘put philosophy into practice,’ through science fiction. Science fiction writers Stanislaw Lem and Robert Abernathy wrote in their article about Philip K. Dick in 1975, that:

If anyone is dissatisfied with SF in its role as an examiner of the future and of civilization, there is no way to make an analogous move from literary oversimplifications to full-fledged art, because there is no court of appeal from this genre. There would be no harm in this, save that American SF, exploiting its exceptional status, lays claim to occupy the pinnacles of art and thought. One is annoyed by the pretentiousness of a genre which fends off accusations of primitivism by pleading its entertainment character and then, once such accusations have been silenced, renews its overwhelming claims. By being one thing and purporting to be another, SF promotes a mystification which, moreover, goes on with the tacit consent of readers and public. The development of interest in SF at American universities has, contrary to what might have been expected, altered nothing in this state of affairs.93

In essence, this argument offers is that the lack of limitations on what a science fiction novel should or may consist of results in its criticism. The lack of scientific accuracy that Bucher and Manning mention in their article is not even necessarily the genre’s down-fall, according to Lem and Abernathy. It is the genre’s ability to hide behind the label of ‘entertainment’ that has halted its ability to fully grow. While hiding behind the label of ‘entertainment’ or ‘escapist literature’ has a negative impact on the genre, I argue that this is also what enables the genre to be a form of social criticism. Let me explain this last point. If either of the novels discussed in this thesis would be history, sociology or philosophy books, discussing the exact same issues, they would be deemed controversial, politically incorrect and badly researched. The fact that it remains fiction is in the genre’s favour. The genre is able to smuggle in ideas and thoughts that would otherwise be thought of as controversial.

93 Lem, Stanislaw; Abernathy, Robert, “Philip K. Dick: A Visionary Among Charlatans” Science Fiction Studies, Vol. 2, No. 1 (Mar., 1975), p. 54 43

I feel that, although some scientific accuracy or probability is needed in any science fiction story, this is not the most important component. In fact, the idea that science fiction would work alongside the scientist to encourage innovation in the world of science and technology has long been abandoned. Luckhurst’s notion of science fiction literally being ‘fictions of the science,’ has been replaced by a more nuanced form of literature that reaches into numerous areas of study. What science fiction is able to do now, and has been able to do since 1945, is comment on the scientific and technological developments. It is able to put these developments into perspective by presenting a fictional world which contemplates the consequences of such developments. Moreover, although I have discussed novels from the 1950s and 1960s, I have demonstrated that many of the issues they discuss are still relevant today. It is for this reason that I feel science fiction would be a valuable addition to education, both in high schools and at an academic level, for it generates conversations that would otherwise be too difficult or controversial to be had.

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