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Alex/The Great Obstacle of Ideology
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this documentunder the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU Free Documentation License".
Contents
-INTRODUCTION
-PART ONE
What is Fantasy?-PART TWO
The Symbolic and the Real-PART THREE
The Role of Fantasy
Fantasy and its Place in Ideology
The Ruling Ideologies-LICENSING
A Fleeting Encounter with the Real
Why is This Work Licensed?
The GNU FDL in a Nutshell
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Introduction
There has been an ongoing debate about Marxism in leftist circles regarding how the working class is to attain class consciousness and ultimately overthrow the current economic order. It was Marx’s view that conditions create consciousness, and that inevitably, a certain set of conditions would arise that would enable the workers to see capitalism for what it was and overthrow the system. A number of early Marxists interpreted this to mean that the workers would “spontaneously” attain class consciousness. However, in 19th-century and early 20th-century Russia, Vladimir Lenin did not see that happening. Despite the terrible conditions of the country, and the many opportunities for class consciousness to be attained, the working people were not getting any closer to attaining it. Lenin, and other theorists during this time, concluded that conditions alone were not enough to instill consciousness, and that nothing was going to happen “spontaneously.” Instead, the development of class consciousness would have to be aided along by a political organization dedicated specifically to that purpose (what became known as a “vanguard party”). This view was basically accepted by most of the Marxist community.
But obviously, the October Revolution of 1917 in Russia did not have the results it was looking for. Workers’ rule (or what could have been workers’ rule) was suffocated and democratic rights were suppressed, turning the USSR into a police-state. These events have scared many Marxists not just into rejecting the idea of a police-state (something that they should reject), but also the entire notion of a “vanguard party.” These Marxists have returned to the notion of spontaneity: the idea that the right conditions will spontaneously give the working class the consciousness it needs.
The excuse for this return to spontaneity is that Lenin was (according to them) an elitist who rushed history, and that is (according to them) a big reason why the USSR failed. However, while the term “vanguard party” itself may be outdated (as now it is associated with alleged “elitism”), the idea itself in its true form is not. This is because there is a great obstacle preventing consciousness from spontaneously being attained, and it is the same obstacle that kept the workers passive through the vast economic trouble of the past: ideology.
If the market crashes, those in power can easily claim that it is a natural occurrence and that the market will inevitably rebound. The leaders can give hope to the people that they will “fix” the problem. Many Marxists like to say that because they are “materialists,” they “know” that these ideas have no real effect on the people. The problem, they claim, is still that the right conditions have not presented themselves, and that when the right conditions do arise, the people will spontaneously see the lies for what they are. But if this is our view, we will be waiting for the right conditions for an eternity. The following essay will discuss why it is that ideology is in truth extremely effective in shaping our desires and, in fact, in shaping our very perceptions of reality. Ideology pacifies the questions and keeps the people at bay. Once we understand this fact and why this is the case, we can see that while conditions do indeed play a key part in helping us attain consciousness, another element must be present to cut through the ruling ideologies of the current order.
PART ONE
What is Fantasy?
Before we discuss ideology we have to discuss fantasy. According to French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan, a fantasy is not an expression of our desire. A fantasy does not occur when we desire something, but cannot have it. Rather, the fantasy tells us how to desire. In Lacanian psychoanalysis, desire is not something that is natural to humans We have to be told to desire something. We construct fantasies for ourselves based on the information we get from our surroundings, or we are simply presented with a fantasy by an external entity, and these are what give us our desires. No one understands this better than American corporations. For example, we are told on a daily basis through advertisement that a certain product will make us happy. This presents us with the fantasy of having that product and being happy with it, and thus, the desire for that product is implanted in our minds. Some of us are able to resist this because at some point in time, some event led us to construct a fantasy which tells us that we don’t desire material things, and that we desire other things (like building a better world). However, on a mass scale, the corporations are quite successful.
In the same way, ideologies can use fantasies to shape our desires. The fantasies of being a good citizen, of living in a functional democracy, of living in a stable economy, etc. all implant desires in our minds that are in line with what the prevailing ideologies want us to desire.
The Marxist who favors spontaneity would say to this that all of these fantasies would dissolve in the right conditions. After all, they are only illusions. However, what these Marxists don’t understand is that fantasies are not just illusions; they are a fundamental part of what we call reality. The fundamental reason for the fact that ideology is such a powerful obstacle is that there is reality in illusion, and it is why the grip that ideology has on the people’s minds will not simply disappear spontaneously. But what is meant by the phrase “there is reality in illusion” and why do fantasies play such an important role in our reality? The answer can be found in the psychoanalytical concepts of the Symbolic and the Real, especially as described by philosopher Slavoj Zizek, who does a stellar job of describing how ideology functions.
PART TWO
The Symbolic and the Real
The Symbolic Order (a.k.a. the big Other) consists of all of our social structures, our law, our language, etc. It is the surroundings in which we fulfill our role in society as human beings. Thus, it constitutes nearly all of what we usually call “reality.” However, we are not naturally born into this Order; we have to be given a name, a role in society, we have to learn to speak, and the price paid for this, according to Jacques Lacan and Slavoj Zizek, is a sort of castration. What is it that gets castrated, so to speak? The answer is the Real.
Not to be confused with the term “reality,” the Real is what the world is before it is symbolized by the big Other. It is also, for Zizek, what exists after Symbolization. In other words, the Real is simultaneously what comes before the Symbolic and what refuses to be distorted by it. It is the goal of the big Other to symbolize the Real (i.e. through language, etc.) so that we can communicate and interact. It ultimately fails to completely achieve this task, however. We cannot fully express the Real through through our language and society, because our language and society are precisely what separate us from the Real. In other words, much of the Real simply cannot be expressed through our language or any part of the symbolic order.
Thus, there is a a gap that remains in our "reality."
One result of this gap is hysteria. In psychoanalysis, hysteria is defined as an attitude of questioning, especially toward the big Other. Often, psychiatrists see people who essentially pose the question, "What does the big Other want from me?" Would people question their existence, their role in society, or the meaning of life if the Symbolic Order managed to fully symbolize the Real?Questioners exist because the Symbolic ultimately fails to do this.
The Role of Fantasy
How do we deal with this failure in the Symbolic? According to Zizek, we hide this gap with fantasies. Rather than being merely fictitious dreaming, fantasies are key to understanding our reality. They pacify the questions and uncertaintly and allow us to experience things without distress.
To use a crude example, many of us may have experienced a small moment of anxiety while having sex. We may have asked ourselves, "What I'm I doing? These are just some stupid movements, it doesn't really mean anything." The big Other tries to symbolize for us what sex is so that we can understand it, but it fails. What we are basically doing during sex is just some "stupid movements." When we realize this, we are encountering the Real--the part that fails to by fully symbolized. This threatens our very reality; it challenges everything the big Other tells us. The feeling most commonly associated with an encounter with the Real is anxiety, which Freud called the "one true emotion." Thus, to understand our reality, we need to do so at a proper distance from the Real.
Fantasies allow us to do this. Sex, to be enjoyable, always requires this extra fantasmatic element. If this element dissolves, we get the "this is stupid" feeling.
In the same way, when we look into someone's eyes we see a complete void; there is "nobody home." This allows us, or rather compells us to project a fantasy onto that person. The most common one is the concept of the soul.
So in short, to compensate for the failure of the big Other to symbolize the real, we "fill the gap" with fantasies. They are key in our understanding of our reality; they are a part of our reality.
Fantasy and its Place in Ideology
Marx aptly described ideology in this way: “They do not know it but they are doing it.” Understanding the role of fantasy is essential in understanding why this is a good description of how ideology works.
Just as we need a fantasmatic element to enjoy sex, ideology needs fantasies to justify itself. An ideology is essentially a set of beliefs that guides how a group of people behaves. The question is, "How do ideologies influence behavior so effectively?" They exploit a powerful tool in our understanding of reality: the fantasy. Fascism in Italy and Germany would have been a flop without the fantasy of a "big, bad enemy" that was ruining society, an enemy that only a powerful leader could combat. Without these fantasies, people become excessively anxious and begin to question their surroundings. This was especially the case in Germany considering the state of the economy before Hitler took over. However, if you present the populace with a fantasy that "fills the gap" and pacifies the questions, the fantasy becomes part of our reality.
To use another example, the colonialism of Imperial Britain was justified by the fantasy that the British were cleansing the world of ignorance, and by the fantasy of attaining great wealth and power. Britain saw itself as the beacon of hope and the light of reason, a fantasy which pacified the questions about the big Other and, in turn, justified what basically amounted to mass murder. Further, this fantasy shaped the desires of the people into those of attaining wealth as opposed to respecting people in other cultures. The ideology of colonialism used fantasy to entice people into committing terrible acts for profit, while simultaneously justifying the acts and keeping people passive to it.
We are dealing with a very similar situation today. America sees itself, more or less, as the beacon of freedom and hope, and the fantasy it created for itself, i.e. the idea that America is the ultimate “good guy,” seeking to rid the world of dictatorships, has so far kept the public relatively passive while justifying a war in Iraq that is really about economic leverage and oil profits. Alas, the only major "objections" to the Iraq war in America have been that it is not "working."
Yet another example is the myth of capitalism. We are constantly told that in capitalism, you can succeed and attain what you want if you simply work hard enough. While we may not believe this, we are so scared by any alternative to capitalism that we refuse to think of anything else. We have been presented with fantasies about capitalism’s “freedom” and about how anything different would be a terrible failure.
We like to think that ideologies are dead, but modern-day ideology presents us with fantasies on a daily basis, i.e. what it means to be an American, what one should get at the grocery store, what “democracy” means, etc. These fantasies have shaped our desires and our very perception of reality, so with this in mind, we can begin to understand why ideology has such a strangle-hold on the general population and why it is a difficult force to combat.
PART THREE
In part one of this Guide, we touched on the fact that fantasies are not expressions of our desire. Rather, fantasies tell us how to desire. In part two, we discussed how fantasies allow us to understand our reality and how ideologies use fantasies to shape our desires and perceptions. In the third and final part of this guide, we will tackle two major questions: 1) What kinds of fantasies are we presented with on a day-to-day basis? and 2) If we don’t want the current ruling ideologies shaping our perceptions, than what do we do?
The Ruling Ideologies
Marx once said something along these lines: whatever ideologies the ruling class has become the ruling ideologies. Today, ruling class ideologies present us with fantasies in an attempt to shape our perception of reality and, ultimately, to guide our actions.
It is interesting when people say that it is “human nature” for someone to want more than what s/he already has, or that the desire of material things is somehow natural to our species. There is, as we have discussed, nothing natural about desire; it is completely artificial. However, to the average person, the view that humans have unlimited desires is part of their reality.
Why is this?
The answer is that the ruling ideologies (those of the big-time capitalists like those that run society’s corporations) have presented us with the fantasy that we need more material things to be happy. Thus, that has become the reality for many people. The desire for material positions has basically been implanted in our minds. In turn, the belief that desire itself is natural has become a reality for most.
There are a plethora of fantasies that we are presented with that work in this way. The belief that capitalist nations are necessarily practicing democracies is a very prevalent one. This fantasy serves three purposes: it presents the notion that we are living in a democracy that works, it makes capitalism and democracy seem to go hand-in-hand, and it tells us that any other formula for democracy (i.e. one without capitalism) would be impossible. None of these things are true. But they are what many people perceive as reality. Thus, we can understand why it is difficult to counter these claims.
A Fleeting Encounter With the Real
What then is the solution to this problem? Our goal is not to eliminate fantasies, for we need fantasies to understand reality. The goal is to rid ourselves of the influence of the ruling ideologies, which means that we must deconstruct the fantasies they present us with. But how do we do this if these fantasies shape our very realities? The most important thing to understand here is that ideologies are not fool-proof.
It is truly horrifying for us when some catastrophic event happens, and the fantasies we have constructed seem to dissolve before our eyes. It is in this situation that we encounter the Real, and in turn, our entire reality collapses. For example, if you discovered that your spouse was cheating on you, your fantasy of your spouse as the ideal person would dissolve, and your reality--everything you thought you knew--would seem to collapse around you. The emotion associated with this is anxiety, which is potentially damaging to our mental health. However, it is also an opportunity to reconstruct our reality (with new fantasies, mind you) and be stronger for it.
We are told, time and again, that capitalism is the formula for a good society, and this is indeed the reality for much of the public. We could counter that argument with arguments of our own, but on a mass scale, it would be difficult (if not impossible) to convince the entire population in this way that their reality is a lie.
This is why, today, there needs to be some event or a set of conditions that arises which helps to dismantle the fantasies we have been presented with and gives humanity a brief encounter with the Real. Such an event or series of conditions would be potentially devastating to the people. But it would also allow us to reconstruct our reality. As Slavoj Zizek points out, the best ideas emerge when you are in such a deep shit that you have to think of something new out of the sheer urge to survive.
However, we cannot sit on our hands and wait for this to happen. To use an analogy, the conditions of the ground can be just right, but if you don’t plant the seeds, nothing will grow. Whether or not the conditions lead to an encounter with the Real and how we reconstruct our reality afterward will be dependent upon the work we do now.
For example, a huge catastrophe could happen, but the leaders could claim that they have things “under control” and that the people need not worry. This fantasy would be greatly weakened by the terrible conditions, but if not effectively challenged, it could just as easily continue to dominate and define our reality. To dismantle this fantasy, an organized and already informed portion of the working class would have to have worked for years to gain experience and develop the correct slogans, arguments, etc. to succeed in cutting through the prevailing illusions. In short, the conditions only have the ability to weaken the fantasies that the ruling ideologies present us with. An external force is still needed to dismantle them.
We do not know when the right conditions will come, so it is our task now to work as much as we can to gain experience and develop our ideas so that when the time arrives, we can cut through the prevailing fantasies, leading the masses to encounter the Real, and effectively giving us a clean slate with which to build a better world.
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7. AGGREGATION WITH INDEPENDENT WORKS
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When the Document is included in an aggregate, this License does not
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If the Cover Text requirement of section 3 is applicable to these
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the entire aggregate, the Document's Cover Texts may be placed on
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8. TRANSLATION
Translation is considered a kind of modification, so you may
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Replacing Invariant Sections with translations requires special
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If a section in the Document is Entitled "Acknowledgements",
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You may not copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute the Document except
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10. FUTURE REVISIONS OF THIS LICENSE
The Free Software Foundation may publish new, revised versions
of the GNU Free Documentation License from time to time. Such new
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ADDENDUM: How to use this License for your documents
To use this License in a document you have written, include a copy of
the License in the document and put the following copyright and
license notices just after the title page:
Copyright (c) YEAR YOUR NAME.
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2
or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation;
with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts.
A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU
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If you have Invariant Sections, Front-Cover Texts and Back-Cover Texts,
replace the "with...Texts." line with this:
with the Invariant Sections being LIST THEIR TITLES, with the
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If you have Invariant Sections without Cover Texts, or some other
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If your document contains nontrivial examples of program code, we
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to permit their use in free software.
BenSeattle |
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