Chapter 6, Spectacular Time Summary and Analysis

Chapter 6 presents theses 147 through 164. Chapter 6 begins with a brief quote taken from Oraculo Manual y Arte de Prudencia by Baltasar Gracián y Morales. Chapter 6 continues to explore the concept of time in modern society with a focus on the way time operates within spectacular society. Production time, that is time spent laboring to produced, debases man and leaves him, ultimately, dead. To obscure this, spectacular society presents the illusion that production time is cyclical—in fact, it is only pseudo-cyclical. Production time equates to exchangeable units of time; in requires a loss of quality but must be made to appear meaningful. The pseudo-cyclical nature of production time is reinforced by natural cycles of day and night, work and rest, and an annual planned vacation. Pseudo-cyclical time is transformed by modern industry into a commodity just...