Marcuse combines elements from Sigmund Freud and Karl Marx. For Marx, doing away with the conditions for economic repression would allow everyone to express himself or herself artistically. For Freud, though our repression of antisocial desires such as sexuality and aggression is necessary for society. In order to keep certain classes in positions of power, we are asked to repress even more than is needed to achieve social ends. This added repression is designated by Marcuse as "surplus repression." Workers are seduced into becoming part of the very system that uses them up by themselves becoming consumers. Even anti-establishment activity such as rock music is co-opted by being transformed into a commodity. To break free of this cycle of seduction we need to eliminate surplus repression and decrease necessary repression through technological advances. Marcus advances however that just when we are able to cur down on necessary repression, the forces of power increase surplus repression.
