--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: If the worker and his boss enjoy the same…" description: "\"If the worker and his boss enjoy the same television program and visit the same resort places, if the typist is as attractively made up as the daughter..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ec3/herbert-marcuse-3589_assimilation_if-the-worker-and-his-boss-enjoy-the-sam_2605977.jpg" --- # If the worker and his boss enjoy the same television… ![“If the worker and his boss enjoy the same television program and visit the same resort places, if the typist is as attractively made up as the daughter of her employer, if the Negro owns a Cadillac, if they all read the same newspaper, then this assimilation indicates not the disappearance of…” quote by Herbert Marcuse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ec3/herbert-marcuse-3589_assimilation_if-the-worker-and-his-boss-enjoy-the-sam_2605977.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ec3/herbert-marcuse-3589_assimilation_if-the-worker-and-his-boss-enjoy-the-sam_2605977.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ec3/herbert-marcuse-3589_assimilation_if-the-worker-and-his-boss-enjoy-the-sam_2605977.jpg) > “If the worker and his boss enjoy the same television program and visit the same resort places, if the typist is as attractively made up as the daughter of her employer, if the Negro owns a Cadillac, if they all read the same newspaper, then this assimilation indicates not the disappearance of classes, but the extent to which the needs and satisfactions that serve the preservation of the Establishment are shared by the underlying population.” [Herbert Marcuse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-marcuse/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Shared consumer habits mask class differences, showing how societal needs align across groups. **In simple terms:** Common consumption hides class divides. Key Takeaway Question how consumer culture unites or divides. Themes class consumerism social structure Mood critical analytical Type philosophical academic When to use this quote - marketing - urban planning - social policy - education Key Concepts Critical theory sociology Questions to Reflect On - How does shared media affect class perception? - Can common interests bridge social gaps? A Different Perspective Consumer culture can also reinforce inequality. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Assimilation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/assimilation/) [Assimilation Indicates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/assimilation-indicates-1985817/) [Boss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/boss/) [Cadillacs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cadillacs/) [Class](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/class/) [Daughter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/daughter/) [Employer Negro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/employer-negro-1985819/) [Employers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/employers/) [Enjoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/enjoy/) [Equality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/equality/) [Establishment](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/establishment/) [Made](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/made/) [Needs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/needs/) [Negro Owns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/negro-owns-1985818/) [Newspaper Assimilation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/newspaper-assimilation-1985816/) [Newspapers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/newspapers/) [Population](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/population/) [Preservation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/preservation/) [Program](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/program/) [Resorts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/resorts/) [Satisfaction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/satisfaction/) [Television](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/television/) [Typist Attractively](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/typist-attractively-1985820/) [Workers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/workers/) ## Related quotes > [When I die throw my body in the back and drive me to the junk yard in my Cadillac.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-springsteen/when-i-die-throw-my-body-in-the-back-and-drive-me-to-the-junk-yard-in/) [Bruce Springsteen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-springsteen/) > [Why should I put a bunch of Cadillacs on the ice, when I can sell out with a bunch of volkswagens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-ballard/why-should-i-put-a-bunch-of-cadillacs-on-the-ice-when-i-can-sell-out/) [Harold Ballard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harold-ballard/) > [Apparently, there's a little red demon dwarf that haunts the city, and before every major bad thing that's happened, it's appeared to somebody. Last…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/apparently-there-s-a-little-red-demon-dwarf-that-haunts-the-city-and/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [You know how I impress girls at the gym? I do pull ups: I pull up in a Corvette, in a Cadillac, and in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-lawler/you-know-how-i-impress-girls-at-the-gym-i-do-pull-ups-i-pull-up-in-a/) [Jerry Lawler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerry-lawler/) > [If you want to live a long time, don't fool with nothing old but money, nothing big but a bank roll, nothing black but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/satchel-paige/if-you-want-to-live-a-long-time-don-t-fool-with-nothing-old-but-money/) [Satchel Paige](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/satchel-paige/) > [The needs of a society determine its ethics, and in the Black American ghettos the hero is that man who is offered only the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maya-angelou/the-needs-of-a-society-determine-its-ethics-and-in-the-black-american/) [Maya Angelou](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maya-angelou/) > [The label of liberalism is hardly a sentence to public ignominy: otherwise Bruce Springsteen would still be rehabilitating used Cadillacs in Asbury Park and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barbara-ehrenreich/the-label-of-liberalism-is-hardly-a-sentence-to-public-ignominy/) [Barbara Ehrenreich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barbara-ehrenreich/) > [Oh, I got a beautiful 1959 Cadillac Coupe DeVille four-door. No one will ride in it with me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-waits/oh-i-got-a-beautiful-1959-cadillac-coupe-deville-four-door-no-one/) [Tom Waits](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-waits/) > [Once I was coming down a street in Beverly Hills and I saw a Cadillac about a block long, and out of the side…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dorothy-parker/once-i-was-coming-down-a-street-in-beverly-hills-and-i-saw-a-cadillac/) [Dorothy Parker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dorothy-parker/) > [Ambition is a dream with a V8 engine. Ain't nowhere else in the world where you can go from driving a truck to cadillac…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elvis-presley/ambition-is-a-dream-with-a-v8-engine-ain-t-nowhere-else-in-the-world/) [Elvis Presley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elvis-presley/) > [ By \[age\] 93, I had shrunk quite a lot. My car was known as the Phantom Cadillac. People would see it whizzing by and… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-burns/by-age-93-i-had-shrunk-quite-a-lot-my-car-was-known-as-the-phantom/) [George Burns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-burns/) > [You know what I never get with the limo? The tinted windows. Is that so people don't see you? Yeah, what a better way…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-seinfeld/you-know-what-i-never-get-with-the-limo-the-tinted-windows-is-that-so/) [Jerry Seinfeld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerry-seinfeld/) > [Capitalism is an organized system to guarantee that greed becomes the primary force of our economic system and allows the few at the top…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-moore/capitalism-is-an-organized-system-to-guarantee-that-greed-becomes-the/) [Michael Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-moore/) > [speaking with, uh, about the vocal choreography, one of the first groups that I worked with was a group called the Cadillacs, which was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cholly-atkins/speaking-with-uh-about-the-vocal-choreography-one-of-the-first-groups/) [Cholly Atkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cholly-atkins/) > [There's no better credit card in the world than driving up at a bank door in a Cadillac limousine.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tennessee-williams/there-s-no-better-credit-card-in-the-world-than-driving-up-at-a-bank/) [Tennessee Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tennessee-williams/) ## More by Herbert Marcuse > [The strains and stresses suffered by the individual in society are grounded in the normal functioning of that society (and of the individual!) rather…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-marcuse/the-strains-and-stresses-suffered-by-the-individual-in-society-are/) [Herbert Marcuse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-marcuse/) > [ \[Art\] can speak its own language only as long as the images are alive which refuse and refute the established order. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-marcuse/art-can-speak-its-own-language-only-as-long-as-the-images-are-alive/) [Herbert Marcuse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-marcuse/) > [If man has learned to see and know what really is, he will act in accordance with truth, Epistemology is in itself ethics, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-marcuse/if-man-has-learned-to-see-and-know-what-really-is-he-will-act-in/) [Herbert Marcuse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-marcuse/) > [Hypostatized into a ritual pattern, Marxian theory becomes ideology. But its content and function distinguish it from classical forms of ideology; it is not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-marcuse/hypostatized-into-a-ritual-pattern-marxian-theory-becomes-ideology/) [Herbert Marcuse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-marcuse/) > [Art cannot change the world, but it can contribute to changing the consciousness and drives of the men and women who could change the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-marcuse/art-cannot-change-the-world-but-it-can-contribute-to-changing-the/) [Herbert Marcuse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-marcuse/) > [That which is cannot be true.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-marcuse/that-which-is-cannot-be-true/) [Herbert Marcuse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-marcuse/) > [The closed language does not demonstrate and explain it communicates decision, dictum, command. Where it defines, the definition becomes "separation of good from evil;"…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-marcuse/the-closed-language-does-not-demonstrate-and-explain-it-communicates/) [Herbert Marcuse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-marcuse/) > [The apparatus defeats its own purpose if its purpose is to create a humane existence on the basis of a humanized nature.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-marcuse/the-apparatus-defeats-its-own-purpose-if-its-purpose-is-to-create-a/) [Herbert Marcuse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-marcuse/) > [“As Hegel defines it: "Thinking is, indeed, essentially the negation of that which is before us." ... Reason is the negation of the negative.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-marcuse/as-hegel-defines-it-thinking-is-indeed-essentially-the-negation-of/) [Herbert Marcuse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-marcuse/) > [The precarious ontological link between Logos and Eros is broken, and scientific rationality emerges as essentially neutral.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-marcuse/the-precarious-ontological-link-between-logos-and-eros-is-broken-and/) [Herbert Marcuse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-marcuse/) > [If mass communications blend together harmoniously, and often unnoticeably, art, politics, religion, and philosophy with commercials, they bring these realms of culture to their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-marcuse/if-mass-communications-blend-together-harmoniously-and-often/) [Herbert Marcuse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-marcuse/) > [This society turns everything it touches into a potential source of progress and exploitation, of drudgery and satisfaction, of freedom and of oppression.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-marcuse/this-society-turns-everything-it-touches-into-a-potential-source-of/) [Herbert Marcuse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-marcuse/) > [Dialectical thought understands the critical tension between "is" and "ought" first as an ontological condition, pertaining to the structure of Being itself. However, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-marcuse/dialectical-thought-understands-the-critical-tension-between-is-and/) [Herbert Marcuse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-marcuse/) > [Obscenity is a moral concept in the verbal arsenal of the establishment, which abuses the term by applying it, not to expressions of its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-marcuse/obscenity-is-a-moral-concept-in-the-verbal-arsenal-of-the/) [Herbert Marcuse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-marcuse/) > [“For "totalitarian" is not only a terroristic political coordination of society, but also a non-terroristic economic-technical coordination which operates through the manipulation of needs…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-marcuse/for-totalitarian-is-not-only-a-terroristic-political-coordination-of/) [Herbert Marcuse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-marcuse/) [Explore all 123 Herbert Marcuse quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-marcuse/) ## More Assimilation quotes > [“The Portland school board's policy equated integration and racial assimilation. This policy, Rist explains, is a "means of socializing nonwhite students to act, speak,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/derrick-bell/the-portland-school-board-s-policy-equated-integration-and-racial/) [Derrick Bell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/derrick-bell/) > [“Being an immigrant is not a status but a state of mind. It doesn’t stop when you “assimilate” or “integrate” or when you go…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stewart-stafford/being-an-immigrant-is-not-a-status-but-a-state-of-mind-it-doesn-t/) [Stewart Stafford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stewart-stafford/) > [Great genius takes shape by contact with another great genius, but, less by assimilation than by friction.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/heinrich-heine/great-genius-takes-shape-by-contact-with-another-great-genius-but/) [Heinrich Heine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/heinrich-heine/) > [ “\[I\]nclusion, not assimilation, should be the key concept in seeking, ever seeking, a more perfect national union. Our own history has shown that we… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dan-rather/i-nclusion-not-assimilation-should-be-the-key-concept-in-seeking-ever/) [Dan Rather](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dan-rather/) > [“It's a fact— everyone is ignorant in some way or another. Ignorance is our deepest secret. And it is one of the scariest things…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vera-nazarian/it-s-a-fact-everyone-is-ignorant-in-some-way-or-another-ignorance-is/) [Vera Nazarian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vera-nazarian/) > [“Fuck I hate fucks Who think they’re so fucking great They know everything about fucking, When they’re just fucking fucks fucking! And no one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/initially-no/fuck-i-hate-fucks-who-think-they-re-so-fucking-great-they-know/) [Initially NO](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/initially-no/) > [Jewish history turns out not to be an either/or story - as in, either pure Judaism detached from its surroundings or else assimilation -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simon-schama/jewish-history-turns-out-not-to-be-an-either-or-story-as-in-either/) [Simon Schama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simon-schama/) > [“It’s a great honor, m’ijo. We know that. I’m sure everyone in Ysleta is proud of you. But this is who you are," she…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sergio-troncoso/it-s-a-great-honor-m-ijo-we-know-that-i-m-sure-everyone-in-ysleta-is/) [Sergio Troncoso](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sergio-troncoso/) > [Intellectual life requires for its expansion and manifestation the influences and assimilation of the interests and affections of others.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-addams/intellectual-life-requires-for-its-expansion-and-manifestation-the/) [Jane Addams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-addams/) > [“Does assimilation mean that they never came up against naked prejudice? Does it mean that you understood where the limits of your social world…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-de-waal/does-assimilation-mean-that-they-never-came-up-against-naked/) [Edmund de Waal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-de-waal/) > [Knowledge is a free good. The biggest cost in its transmission is not in the production or distribution of knowledge, but in its assimilation.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-arrow/knowledge-is-a-free-good-the-biggest-cost-in-its-transmission-is-not/) [Kenneth Arrow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-arrow/) > [“If you aren't destroying your enemies, it's because you have been conquered and assimilated, you do not even have an idea of who your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bangambiki-habyarimana/if-you-aren-t-destroying-your-enemies-it-s-because-you-have-been/) [Bangambiki Habyarimana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bangambiki-habyarimana/) > [Finally it should be the earnest wish and paramount aim of the military administration to win the confidence, respect, and affection of the inhabitants…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-mckinley/finally-it-should-be-the-earnest-wish-and-paramount-aim-of-the/) [William McKinley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-mckinley/) > [If you would be a writer, first be a reader. Only through the assimilation of ideas, thoughts and philosophies can one begin to focus…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allan-w-eckert/if-you-would-be-a-writer-first-be-a-reader-only-through-the/) [Allan W. Eckert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allan-w-eckert/) > [We must have life building, man-making, character-making assimilation of ideas.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/swami-vivekananda/we-must-have-life-building-man-making-character-making-assimilation/) [Swami Vivekananda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/swami-vivekananda/) [Browse all 141 Assimilation quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/assimilation/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "If the worker and his boss enjoy the same television program and visit the same resort places, if the typist is as attractively made up as the daughter of her employer, if the Negro owns a Cadillac, if they all read the same newspaper, then this assimilation indicates not the disappearance of classes, but the extent to which the needs and satisfactions that serve the preservation of the Establishment are shared by the underlying population.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Herbert Marcuse" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-marcuse/if-the-worker-and-his-boss-enjoy-the-same-television-program-and/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Assimilation" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-marcuse/if-the-worker-and-his-boss-enjoy-the-same-television-program-and/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ec3/herbert-marcuse-3589_assimilation_if-the-worker-and-his-boss-enjoy-the-sam_2605977.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ec3/herbert-marcuse-3589_assimilation_if-the-worker-and-his-boss-enjoy-the-sam_2605977.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ec3/herbert-marcuse-3589_assimilation_if-the-worker-and-his-boss-enjoy-the-sam_2605977.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“If the worker and his boss enjoy the same television program and visit the same resort places, if the typist…” — Herbert Marcuse", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Herbert Marcuse", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-marcuse/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "If the worker and his boss...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-marcuse/if-the-worker-and-his-boss-enjoy-the-same-television-program-and/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-marcuse/if-the-worker-and-his-boss-enjoy-the-same-television-program-and/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```