“The embodiment of this surplus is the toothpaste tube whose last third is differently coloured , with ‘YOU GET 30% FREE!’ in large letters – in such a situation I am always tempted to say: ‘OK then, give me only this free 30 per cent of the toothpaste!’ In capitalism, the definition of the ‘proper price’ is a discount price. The worn-out designation ‘consumer society’ thus holds only if one conceives of consumption as the mode of appearance of its very opposite, thrift. Here, we should return to Hamlet and to ritual value: ritual is ultimately the ritual of sacrifice which opens up the space for generous consumption – after we have sacrificed to the gods the innermost parts of the slaughtered animal (heart, intestines), we are free to enjoy a hearty meal of the remaining meat. Instead of enabling free consumption without sacrifice, the modern ‘total economy’ which wants to dispense with this ‘superfluous’ ritualized sacrifice generates the paradoxes of thrift – there is no generous consumption; consumption is allowed only in so far as it functions as the form of appearance of its opposite. And was not Nazism precisely a desperate attempt to restore ritual value to its proper place through the Holocaust, that gigantic sacrifice to the ‘obscure gods’, as Lacan put it in Seminar XI? Quite appropriately, the sacrificed object was the Jew, the very embodiment of the capitalist paradoxes of thrift. Fascism is to be situated in the series of attempts to counter this capitalist logic: apart from the Fascist corporatist attempt to ‘re-establish the balance’ by cutting off the excess embodied in the ‘Jew’, we could mention the different versions of the attempt to restore the premodern sovereign gesture of pure expenditure – recall the figure of the junkie, the only true ‘subject of consumption’, the only one who consumes himself utterly, to his very death, in his unbound jouissance.” -Zizek, Slavoj (2014-04-08). Did Somebody Say Totalitarianism?: 5 Interventions in the (Mis)Use of a Notion (The Essential Zizek) (Kindle Locations 664-681). Verso Books. Kindle Edition.
Now in order to get at what is at work here, we first have to understand the Economics 101 concept of the Paradox of Thrift. On one hand, despite the popular doxa and mythology among Republicans and Neo-Cons that investment is the driver of a strong economy, the only real driver in the real world is demand. I mean all the investment in the world isn’t going to do shit for us if no one has the money to buy the product. On the other hand, when it comes to the struggles of the poor under producer/consumer Capitalism, the Capitalist must defer to the alibi of free-will and thrift:
“If you would have spent your life “putting a little back”, you might be able to enjoy a better retirement at a younger age.”
And the problem here is rooted in an inherent contradiction that lies within the very logic of Capitalism itself. If you ask a Capitalist about the power that the rich can accumulate with their wealth and the exploitation of both consumers and producers that is sure to follow, they will resort to arguments about the god-like entity of the Invisible Hand of the market: that it will counter any negative effect on your average producer/consumer. But when you bring up the misfortunes of your average producer/consumer, the whole conversation switches to an issue of free-will and self determination. But which is it? Either this god-like entity of the Invisible Hand has the power to overcome the actions and excesses of the rich, in which case it is perfectly capable of overcoming the actions of the average producer/consumer. Or it does not, in which case the free-will and actions of the Capitalist are perfectly capable of overcoming the efforts of the average producer/consumer. Either way, the average producer/consumer is perfectly screwed –despite what the mythology of Capitalism might lead us to believe.
And the marketing strategy of “30% more” is how Capitalism overcomes the Paradox of Thrift by enfolding it within an act of consumption much as Starbucks does social responsibility.
The truth is that producer/consumer Capitalism is far more dependent on consumption than what we gain through production, to the point of not being just dependant on the buying power we have from production at any given time, but from the buying power we might gain in the future: hence our economy’s high dependence on credit. The other truth is that if everyone engaged in thrift (the moral imperative that Capitalism pimps as alibi (our economy would collapse almost immediately. I would point to the last point made in the quote:
“– recall the figure of the junkie, the only true ‘subject of consumption’, the only one who consumes himself utterly, to his very death, in his unbound Jouissance.” -Ibid
Note here, for instance, the denial that drives the willingness of Capitalists to keep the consumption going in the face of man-made global warming and the ultimate depletion of our natural resources. How can we not think of Capitalism as anything more than a sickness? We focus, in our discourses, on how despicable lawyers are. But many of them are actually working for just causes such as the ACLU and labor and environmental issues. What are business men and marketers doing but administrating the Land of the Lotos Eaters we presently find ourselves in?
The brilliant point that Zizek makes here is in pointing out how the dynamic can be traced to pre-Capitalist forms of social organization. When it comes to Capitalism as a form of oppression, there is nothing new under the sun. It simply utilizes old forms in more subtle ways: such as the old divine right theory that now manifests as “the market has spoken” when it comes to the rich.
In other words, no matter what ideological flag we fly, there will always be a handful of people who think they deserve a little more than everyone else, even if it comes at the expense of everyone else. And therefore, the role of the dissident: the artist, the poet, the philosopher, the intellectual: will always be secure.