Asimov Gender Roles

619 Words3 Pages

Science fiction is a very unique and significant/relevant/crucial/necessary genre in modern society. Science fiction, despite its specific predictions of contemporary society being “wildly inaccurate”, stands out almost exclusively as being a tool of social commentary/criticism. It is almost paradoxical that the genre that lends itself to ideas that are seemingly impossible and unrealistic ¬- bears the most social relevance in today’s society. The ideas, themes and representations portrayed in science fiction can be used to deconstruct, analyze and understand contemporary society. This essay will analyze three of Isaac Asimov’s science fiction texts, namely A Boys best friend; Sally and True Love, showcasing how this genre and specifically theses three texts speak to said contemporary concerns such as our own decadence, greed, quest for knowledge and control
This essay intends to prove that science fiction can be used for the purpose of social commentary on contemporary society, as exhibited in its depiction of the relationship between man and technology; its representation of gender roles and…, through the analysis of three of Isaac Asimov’s science fiction texts, namely A Boys best friend; Sally and True Love, …show more content…

According to Herbert Marcuse, a German-American Philosopher, technology is intended as a “social process (138)”, with the implication of “technological rationality”, involved in weakening individuality. Marcuse is concerned with the fate of the individual as technology removes the dignity of the individual by reducing the individual to a “standardized subject of brute self-preservation (150)”, i.e. technology creates a man concerned primarily with self-interest- who will eventually become a replaceable tool. Isaac Asimov’s A Boys Best Friend (1975), Sally (1975) and True love (1975) are three science fiction novels that demonstrate the relationship between man and