Editing Situationist International (section)

==Etymology and usage==
The term "situationist" refers to the construction of situations, one of the early central concepts of the Situationist International; the term also refers to any individuals engaged in the construction of situations, or, more narrowly, to members of the Situationist International.<ref name="Debord1958Definitions"/> Situationist theory sees the situation as a tool for the liberation of everyday life, a method of negating the pervasive [[Marx's theory of alienation|alienation]] that accompanied the [[Spectacle (critical theory)|spectacle]]. The founding manifesto of the Situationist International, ''[[Report on the Construction of Situations]]'' (1957), defined the construction of situations as "the concrete construction of momentary ambiances of life and their transformation into a superior [[wikt:passional#Adjective|passional]] quality."<ref name="Debord1957Report"/> ''Internationale Situationniste'' No. 1 (June 1958) defined the constructed situation as "a moment of life concretely and deliberately constructed by the collective organization of a [[wikt:unitary#Adjective|unitary]] [[wikt:ambiance#Noun|ambiance]] and a game of events".<ref name="Debord1958Definitions"/> The situationists argued that [[advanced capitalism]] manufactured false desires; literally in the sense of [[Mass media|ubiquitous advertising]] and the glorification of [[capital accumulation|accumulated capital]], and more broadly in the abstraction and [[Reification (Marxism)|reification]] of the more ephemeral experiences of authentic life into [[Commodity (Marxism)|commodities]]. The experimental direction of situationist activity consisted of setting up temporary environments favorable to the fulfillment of true and authentic human desires in response.<ref name="PreliminarySituations">Guy Debord (1958) ''[http://www.cddc.vt.edu/sionline/si/problems.html Preliminary Problems in Constructing a Situation] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110608044138/http://www.cddc.vt.edu/sionline///si/problems.html |date=8 June 2011 }}''. Internationale Situationniste No. 1 (Paris, June 1958). Translated by Ken Knabb.</ref>

The Situationist International strongly resisted use of the term "situationism", which Debord called a "meaningless term", adding "[t]here is no such thing as situationism, which would mean a doctrine for interpreting existing conditions".<ref name="Debord1958Definitions"/> The situationists maintained a philosophical opposition to all [[Ideology|ideologies]], conceiving of them as abstract [[Base and superstructure|superstructures]] ultimately serving only to justify the [[Base and superstructure|economic base]] of a given society; accordingly, they rejected "situationism" as an absurd and self-contradictory concept.<ref name="Vaneigem1967Revolution1">Raoul Vaneigem (1967) ''[http://library.nothingness.org/articles/SI/en/display/35 Traité du savoir-vivre à l’usage des jeunes générations] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110224000044/http://library.nothingness.org/articles/SI/en/display/35 |date=24 February 2011 }}''. (Paris, June 1967). Chapter 1: The Insignificant Signified.</ref> In ''[[The Society of the Spectacle]]'', Debord asserted that ideology was "the abstract will to universality and the illusion thereof" which was "legitimated in modern society by universal abstraction and by the effective dictatorship of illusion".<ref name="Debord1967SocietyIX">Guy Debord (1967) [http://www.cddc.vt.edu/sionline/si/tsots09.html ''Society of the Spectacle''. (Paris, June 1967). Chapter IX: Ideology in Material Form.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720111547/http://www.cddc.vt.edu/sionline/si/tsots09.html |date=20 July 2011 }}</ref>