A Leftist Plea for Eurocentrism - Zizek

Embed Doc
Copy Link
Readcast
Collections

CommentGo Back

http://www.jstor.org

A Leftist Plea for "Eurocentrism"Author(s): Slavoj ŽižekSource:

Critical Inquiry,

Vol. 24, No. 4, (Summer, 1998), pp. 988-1009Published by: The University of Chicago PressStable URL:

http://www.jstor.org/stable/1344115

Accessed: 11/07/2008 06:23

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available athttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unlessyou have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and youmay use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use.Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained athttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=ucpress.Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printedpage of such transmission.JSTOR is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1995 to build trusted digital archives for scholarship. We work with thescholarly community to preserve their work and the materials they rely upon, and to build a common research platform thatpromotes the discovery and use of these resources. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

ALeftist Plea for"Eurocentrism"

SlavojZizekPoliticsand ItsDisavowals

When onesaysEurocentrism,very self-respecting postmodernleftistin-tellectual has asviolenta reaction asJosephGoebbels had toculture-toreach foragun, hurlingaccusations ofprotofascistEurocentrist culturalimperialism.However,isitpossibletoimaginea leftistappropriationoftheEuropean political legacy?Let usbeginwith thequestion,What ispolitics proper?'Itisaphe-nomenon thatappearedfor the first timeinancientGreece when themembers of the demos(thosewithnofirmlydeterminedplaceinthehierarchical socialedifice)presentedthemselves as therepresentatives,thestand-ins,for thewhole ofsociety,for thetrueuniversality("we-the'nothing,'notcountedinthe order-are thepeople,weareall,againstotherswhostandonlyfor theirparticularprivilegedinterest").Politicalconflictproperthus involves the tensionbetween the structuredsocialbody,where eachparthas itsplace,and thepartofno-part,whichunset-tles this orderonaccountof theempty principleofuniversality,of theprincipledequalityof all menqua speaking beings,what Etienne Balibarcallsegaliberte.2oliticsproperthusalwaysinvolves akindof short circuit

1. IrelyhereonJacquesRanciire,LaMesentente:PolitiqueetphilosophieParis, 1995).Thepresent essay developsfurthertheideas first elaboratedinSlavojZizek,"Multicultur-alism, or,The CulturalLogicofMultinationalCapitalism,"NewLeftReview225(Sept.-Oct.1997):28-51.2.See EtienneBalibar,La Craintedes masses:Politiqueetphilosophievant etapresMarx(Paris,1997).

Criticalnquiry24(Summer1998)?1998byTheUniversityofChicago.0093-1896/98/2404-0006$02.00.Allrightsreserved.

988

Summer1998989betweentheuniversal and theparticular;it involves theparadoxof asingularthatappearsas a stand-infortheuniversal,destabilizingthe"natural"functional order of relationsinthe socialbody.Thissingulieruniverselis agroupthat,althoughwithoutanyfixedplaceinthesocialedifice(or,atbest,occupyinga subordinatedplace),notonlydemands tobeheard onequalfootingwith therulingoligarchyoraristocracy(thatis,to berecognizedas apartnerinpoliticaldialogueand the exercise ofpower)but,evenmore,presentsitself as the immediateembodiment ofsocietyassuch,in itsuniversality, againsttheparticular powerinterestsofaristocracyoroligarchy.This identificationofthenonpartwith thewhole,of thepartofsocietywith noproperlydefinedplace(orwhichresists its allocated subordinatedplace)with theuniversal,isthe elemen-tary gestureofpoliticization,discerniblein allgreatdemocraticevents,from theFrench Revolution(inwhichtheThird Estateproclaimeditselfidenticalto the nation as suchagainstthearistocracyandclergy)to thedemiseofEuropeansocialism,inwhichgroupssuch as the Czech CivicForumproclaimedthemselvesrepresentativeof theentiresociety againstthepartynomenklatura.Thepolitical struggle properis therefore neversimplya rational de-bate betweenmultipleinterestsbut,simultaneously,thestrugglefor one'svoicetobeheard andrecognizedasthat ofalegitimatepartner.Whentheexcluded,fromtheGreek demosto Polishworkers,protested againsttherulingelite(thearistocracyornomenklatura),he true stakeswere notonlytheirexplicitdemands(forhigher wages,betterworkingconditions,and soforth)but theirvery rightto be heardandrecognizedas anequalparticipantinthedebate.InPoland,the nomenklaturaost the momentithad toacceptSolidarityas anequalpartner.Inthisprecisesense,politicsanddemocracyaresynonymous:the basic aimofantidemocraticpoliticsalwaysandbydefinition is and wasdepoliticization,thatis,theuncondi-tional demand thatthingsshould return tonormal,witheach individualdoinghis or herparticularjob.JacquesRanciere,ofcourse,emphasizeshow the line ofseparationbetween what he callspolicing(inthebroadsenseofmaintainingsocialorder,the smoothrunningof the socialma-chine)andpolitics properisalwaysblurredandcontested.Inthe Marxisttradition,forinstance,proletariatcan be read as thesubjectivizationof thepartofno-partthat elevates itsinjusticeinto the ultimate test of univer-SlavojZizek,aphilosopherand Lacanianpsychoanalyst,isseniorresearcherinthe Institute of Social Sciences at theUniversityofLjubljana,Slovenia,andvisitingprofessorat the NewSchool for SocialResearch.He iseditorofCogitoand the Unconscious1998)and author ofThePlague ofFantasies(1997)and The IndivisibleRemainder:AnEssayonSchellingand RelatedMatters(1996).CriticalInquiry

of 00

Leave a Comment