The sublime object of ideology

TLDR

The book explores how cultural artifacts such as Titanic, Hitchcock, Wagner, and science fiction reveal ideological fantasies of wholeness and exclusion that underpin society. It investigates the question of human agency in a postmodern world. He traces a lineage from Hegel through Althusser and Lacan, linking psychoanalytic and philosophical concepts to social phenomena such as totalitarianism and racism to explain how ideology operates. The book critiques postmodern scholars, arguing that even in a supposedly post‑ideological world, actions still occur, and it contributes a psychoanalytic theory of ideology with persuasive interpretations of contemporary cultural formations.

Abstract

In this provocative and original work, Slavoj Zizek takes a look at the question of human agency in a postmodern world. From the sinking of the Titanic to Hitchcock's Rear Window, from the operas of Wagner to science fiction, from Alien to the Jewish Joke, the author's acute analyses explore the ideological fantasies of wholeness and exclusion which make up human society. Zizek takes issue with analysts of the postmodern condition from Habermas to Sloterdijk, showing that the idea of a 'post-ideological' world ignores the fact that 'even if we do not take things seriously, we are still doing them'. Rejecting postmodernism's unified world of surfaces, he traces a line of thought from Hegel to Althusser and Lacan, in which the human subject is split, divided by a deep antagonism which determines social reality and through which ideology operates. Linking key psychoanalytical and philosophical concepts to social phenomena such as totalitarianism and racism, the book explores the political significance of these fantasies of control. In so doing, The Sublime Object of Ideology represents a powerful contribution to a psychoanalytical theory of ideology, as well as offering persuasive interpretations of a number of contemporary cultural formations.