20 quotes about the properties and foundations of ideologies
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March 21 marks the 75th anniversary of Slavoj Zizek, a neo-Marxist philosopher who studied the mechanisms of the emergence, formation and action of totalitarian ideologies. Here are some of his formulations.
1
The function of ideology is not to offer us a way to escape reality, but to present social reality itself as a refuge from some traumatic, real entity.
“The Sublime Object of Ideology”, 1989
2
Ideology is our own perception of the social world, the meaning we attach to every phenomenon, and so on. In a certain sense, we enjoy our ideology. Going beyond ideology is painful.
“Pervert’s Movie Guide: Ideology”, 2012
3
The dominant ideology does not involve taking oneself seriously or literally. Perhaps the greatest danger to totalitarianism comes from people who follow its ideology to the letter.
“The Sublime Object of Ideology”, 1989
4
The usual accusations against the “enemies”, which are a characteristic feature of the press of the countries of “real socialism”, questions like: “Whose interests really stand… (behind the demands of freedom of the press, democracy)?”, “To whose mill are the figures of the so-called new social movement?”, “Whose name are they really speaking for?” Such questions are much more threatening than a trivial straightforward statement like “those who demand freedom of the press are actually playing into the hands of the enemies of socialism and threatening the hegemony of the working class.” Totalitarian power is not a stupid dogmatism that has answers to everything; on the contrary, it is an authority that always has questions.
“The Sublime Object of Ideology”, 1989
5
Ideology is, strictly speaking, a system that only pretends to be true, that is, a system that does not simply strive for lies as such, but for lies that would be experienced as truth, for lies that want to be taken seriously.
“The Sublime Object of Ideology”, 1989
6
Totalitarian ideology no longer has these pretensions. Even its creators no longer intend it to be taken seriously; it acquires a manipulative, completely external and instrumental status; it is guided not by the value of truth, but by ordinary non-ideological violence and the promise of profit.
“The Sublime Object of Ideology”, 1989
7
This is how any ideology should work. There’s more to it than just meaning. It should also serve as an empty container into which any value can be placed. It’s that instinctive feeling when we hear something exciting and say, “Oh God, I’m so touched, there’s such depth to this.” But we can never say what is in depth. There’s emptiness there.
“Pervert’s Movie Guide: Ideology”, 2012
8
An ideological situation arises precisely when people “don’t realize what they are really doing,” when they develop a false idea of the social reality around them—a discrepancy born, of course, from this reality itself.
“The Sublime Object of Ideology”, 1989
9
As far as official ideology is concerned, mercy turns out to be an expression of the supreme power of the Master, the ability to rise above his own law: only a truly powerful Master can show mercy. <...> In reality Mister <...> forced to pass off as his free decision what he would have had to do in any case – if he refused mercy, there would be a risk that a loyal plea would turn into an open rebellion.
“On the Eve of the Master: Shaking the Framework”, 2014
10
Modern society looks like a post-ideological one: the ideology of cynicism predominates; people no longer believe in ideological “truths”; they do not take ideological statements seriously. However, the fundamental level of ideology is not the level at which the actual state of affairs appears in an illusory form, but the level of (unconscious) fantasy that structures social reality itself.
“The Sublime Object of Ideology”, 1989
eleven
Cynical detachment is just one of many ways to turn a blind eye to the ordering power of ideological fantasy: even if we do not take anything seriously, even if we maintain an ironic distance, we are still under the power of this fantasy.
“The Sublime Object of Ideology”, 1989
12
Ideology achieves its goals when even facts that seem to refute its arguments turn out to be arguments in its favor.
“The Sublime Object of Ideology”, 1989
13
We live, so we are told, in a post-ideological society. The authorities treat us not as subjects obliged to fulfill their duty, to sacrifice themselves, but as subjects of entertainment. “Unleash your potential”, “Be yourself”, “Live life to the fullest”. When you put on glasses, you see a dictatorship in a democracy.
“Pervert’s Movie Guide: Ideology”, 2012
14
A totalitarian leader does not need references to some external forces to legitimize his dominant position. He does not say to his subjects: “You must follow me because I am your leader,” but on the contrary, he declares: “In myself I am nothing, I am only the expression, the embodiment of your will, its executor, my strength is your strength…” Essentially, he is telling them, “I am your master because you treat me as your master. It is you and your actions that make me your master!”
“The Sublime Object of Ideology”, 1989
15
History is made, so to speak, on credit; only further developments of events will retroactively show whether the ongoing revolutionary violence will be justified, legitimized, or whether its weight will weigh on the shoulders of the living as their fault, as their irredeemable sin.
“The Sublime Object of Ideology”, 1989
16
About 20–30 years ago, when John Major was Prime Minister of Great Britain, an ideological campaign was carried out to maintain morality, and all the ills of society in the speeches of conservatives were embodied in the image of a non-working single mother. For example, crime has increased in the suburbs. Of course, because unemployed single mothers cannot raise children properly! We have a budget deficit. Of course, we have to support unmarried single mothers. An ideological doctrine needs such a pseudo-concrete image in order to focus our attention on it and force us to act.
“Pervert’s Movie Guide: Ideology”, 2012
17
Imagine ideology as a kind of filter, as a frame. If you look at your usual surrounding reality through this frame, everything changes. The frame itself does nothing, it only reveals the abyss of suspicion.
“Pervert’s Movie Guide: Ideology”, 2012
18
Major social events can no longer cause mass violence, in particular wars, and the dominant ideology encourages us to enjoy life and know ourselves, the majority of the population finds it difficult to overcome their disgust for the torture and execution of other people. Most people today are spontaneously “moral”: killing another person is a deeply traumatic event. Therefore, in order to force such people to commit murder, a great “Deed” is needed, due to which small personal doubts begin to seem trivial. The role of such a “Cause” is ideally suited to defending one’s religion or ethnicity.
“Reflections in Red”, 2011
19
In order to criticize ideology, one can and must invent ways to tear off the masks from the hypocrisy of “inner life” and its “sincere” emotionality. After all, our inner experience of our own lives, the stories we tell ourselves to explain what we do, are psychological lies, the truth is outside – where we do something. This is the difficult lesson from Littell’s book (Jonathan Littell, “Benefactors”, 2006 – Weekend): in it we meet a person whose story we have listened to fully and who nevertheless must remain our enemy. What is truly unbearable is not even the nightmarish deeds of the Nazi executioners, but how “human, too human” they remained when they committed them.
“Reflections in Red”, 2011
20
You cannot simply distance yourself from ideology: private cynicism, passion for personal pleasures, etc. – this is exactly how totalitarian ideology operates in “non-ideological” everyday life, this is how this life is determined by ideology, this is how ideology is “present in it in the mode of absence.”
“Metastases of pleasure. Six Essays on Women and Causality”, 1994
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