Jan 12
1/12/2022
“Contingency, Hegemony, Universality: Contemporary Dialogues of the Left” by Judith Butler, Ernesto Laclau, and Slavoj Zizek.
In this book the authors talk about many things, particularly important though is their discussion of the particular and the universal. Zizek emphasizes the need to pursue the universal while Laclau pragmatically argues for a need to organize to accomplish particular goals. The defeat of capitalism is ultimately the most totalizing universal goal pursued by Zizek, and all three authors philosophically agree on such a point. How impossible though is the accomplishment of such a goal? And if it is possible what methods, strategies or actions will lead to completion of such a goal. Laclau largely ignores pursuit of such a singularly grand accomplishment and sees the achievement of smaller goals as perhaps the best that we can do. Should we be happy to accomplish particular goals? Or should we keep our attentions directed at substantial, more meaningful, national, global, universal goals? Or does the universal only come through the achievement of one particular, followed by another, and another, and another, …
Imagine, a child in a small community in California becomes frustrated by the pollution on the beaches in her area, that destroy beauty and that is harmful to wildlife, and public health. The child works to organize the community to restrict the use of single use plastic bags in local businesses. Through much effort and organization she succeeds and her community passes a law prohibiting local businesses from using single use plastic bags in their stores.
Such an effort is particular. A universal goal would be to eliminate single use plastic manufacturing globally. But a young girl in a small community cannot do such a thing. So she does a smaller, particular thing.
But what does she do? She prevents businesses in her community from using single use bags in their stores. These same stores continue to sell soda, and chips, and frozen foods, and, and, and, everything else in single use plastic containers. And the community next door to hers continues to use single use plastic bags. And the majority of all stores in California and America continue to use single use bags to hold all of the other products that they sell that come in single use plastic containers.
She pursued and accomplished a particular goal. Laclau would say that this is good. Zizek would be less certain.
The oceans are filled with millions of tons of plastic dumped from all around the world. One girl, from one community, ended the use of one type of plastic product, in her local community.
Has the accomplishment of this one particular goal done anything to meaningfully reduce the abundance of plastic as pollution in the world’s oceans, or even on her local beach? Has it done anything to diminish the production and sale of plastic products in an impactful way?
Zizek would say that this would turn into a positive news story. People can read about what happened, about what the young girl accomplished, and they can feel good about things in their world.
Zizek would say though that such a story masks a more sinister reality in which nothing is really accomplished and in which plastic production and pollution will continue to grow as it has done for years and years.
Laclau would suggest that the girl has acted to accomplish something that needs to be repeated and repeated. She has reduced production and pollution, if only to a small, insignificant degree. Perhaps only the roadsides of her town will show any difference. Accomplishment of the universal will only come from repeated and growing particular events. A million little girls will turn the particular into the universal.
Butler sees all action/choice as effecting culture. She sees universality as being impossible to achieve because of the constantly contingent nature of cultural power. The girl will perform an action and that will impact how others perform their actions. But will this act of performativity have the power to lead toward anything at all universal or substantial or impactful?
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Greta Thunberg is the opposite of the little girl seeking particular change. Greta tries to influence global politics. Does she succeed in creating change? Or does she only function as a different kind of story, that Zizek would critique in a different way?
