Capitalism and the Banality of Desire

ABSTRACT

This paper elaborates on Todd McGowan’s perspicacious, psychoanalytic explanation of capitalism’s resilience, due to its formidable ideological insinuation into the banal micro-desires of consumers. I outline his contention that capitalism’s false promise of future satisfaction is subverted by the psychical change indicated by Freud’s re-evaluation of the desire/satisfaction relationship. This is elaborated on via Lacan’s claim, somewhat underplayed in McGowan’s reflections, that desire is essentially narcissistic. Lacan’s claim raises the stakes of capitalism’s psychic appeal, but also indicates how Lacanian psychoanalysis offers a point of intervention. I briefly point to the consistency between Lacan’s conception of the actualized subject and Deleuze’s and Guattari’s articulation of desire in terms of “the process” and the complex metaphor of “desiring machines”. I finally turn to ?i?ek’s conception of the developing world as “the place of rupture” and a major fault line internal to capitalism that threatens to disrupt its operation.     

Avatar for Our Age: Sathya Sai Baba and the Cultural Contradictions of Late Capitalism

Life itself is a market. Giving and taking, bargaining and speculating, is part of the game. Life has its … profits and losses appreciation and balance sheets. But the giving of Bhakti [devotion] in exchange for Mukti [liberation] is the most powerful business of all.—Sathya Sai Baba (Gokak, V.K. 1975. Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, an Interpretation. Krishna Abhinav Publications, New Delhi, p. 237)It is your imperative duty to strive for the preservation of dharma. Today some people are trying to uproot Bharatiya Dharma (Indian Religion). We must resist all such attempts.… There are some people who are blindly enamored of Modern Western Civilization.… These so-called spurious and self-styled social reformers are trying to pollute society by depriving it of dharma.—Sathya Sai Baba (Gokak, V.K. 1975. Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, an Interpretation. Krishna Abhinav Publications, New Delhi, p. 246)     

消费时代大众文化的审美伦理与哲学省思

随着经济全球化的发展,以消费主义为标志的后现代文化思潮对中国当代社会的全方位浸染已是在所难免,以情感制作与“快适伦理”为表征的“后情感主义”审美趋向日渐明朗。然而,大众文化承诺给人们的欢乐神话与身体解放,却往往陷入娱乐透支后的身心疲乏和性感聚焦后的精神空幻,形象的欲望满足取代了文化的意义追索,审美正义与文化伦理成为亟待解决的现实问题。消费时代的大众文化完全无视生命中的“痛苦”、“严肃”、“庄严”与“意志”一端,沉溺于“人生幻觉”“瞬间的快感”,在世俗娱乐中丧失起码的自知与清明,不但以“媚俗”为荣甚至以“恶俗”为乐,踏越了文化伦理的底线,使中国文化道统愈陷困境。     

Intense Exchange: Sadomasochism,Theology and the Politics of Late Capitalism

Abstract

Recognizing the need to move beyond the sensationalism surrounding S&M and Christian theology, this article positions S&M within an understanding of the material economics of sex in late capitalistic society. It makes a distinction between discourses of pain and the religious body and the modern S&M discourses of psychopathology, subcultural politics and commercial markets The article then explores the tensions between S&M as an oppressive theological and social structure (a capitalistic model of sexuality-desire) and S&M as a liberating activity in its non-productive exchange (Foucault's pleasure-intensity). While revealing the problems of idolatry and the need for ‘critical consensuality’, the article concludes by showing how intensity and intimacy in S&M can change Christian attitudes to sex and the market.     

The naked truth: mindfulness and the purification of religion

To arrive at an understanding of what drives the much debated spiritual turn in Western Europe, we study the spiritual trajectories and identifications of mindfulness practitioners in the formerly predominantly Roman Catholic context of Flanders in Belgium. Fifteen semi-structured interviews addressed their religious and spiritual biographical trajectories as well as the symbolic boundaries they draw with adjacent religious and spiritual groups. We find marked evidence of a process of ‘religious purification’, which unfolds as a critique of the formal and external aspects of both religion (organisations, dogmas, ritual) and spirituality (woolly and frivolous New Age word games). To validate and justify, alternatively, the ‘pure’ and ‘grounded’ spirituality that results, those concerned consistently invoke the authority of science.     

Counter-Cultural Egalitarianism: a comparative analysis of New Age and other 'alternative' communities

This paper makes a plea for examining New Religious Movements (NRMs), including the New Age Movement, in terms of contrasting modes of social organisation. NRMs share such contrasting modes with other societies well outside the Western industrial-capitalist world, notably hunting and gathering societies. This means that theoretical discussion relating to the social forms of hunter-gatherers can enlighten the social forms of NRMs. The paper demonstrates the ethnographic similarities between NRMS and hunter-gatherers in relation to the social dimensions of egalitarianism and hierarchy. Egalitarianism as a counter-cultural strategy of opposition is then explicated according to Boehm's idea of reverse dominance. Hierarchy, among NRMs organised quite differently from ‘mainstream’ hierarchy, is meanwhile explicated in terms of distinctive space-time circumstances of social aggregation where people are constricted on limited areas of territory. In counter-cultural strategies, it is concluded, egalitarianism amounts to a ‘witnessing’ opposition, while hierarchy amounts to a ‘symbolic’ opposition.     

Capital Possession: a comparative approach to 'New Age' and control of the means of possession

This paper reconsiders academic representations of religious phenomena that have been called New Age through contextualised comparison of social practice and discourse. This challenges both the replication of emic models of a New Age in terms that are abstract, classed and racialised, and the way in which the New Age is represented as a social phenomenon unrelated to other contemporary religious forms throughout the world. By identifying spirit possession as a central practice within what is called ‘non-formative religion’, comparisons are drawn with Pentecostalism and Shamanism, documenting their growth under common conditions of neoliberal globalisation across the world. To examine reasons for such resurgence, attention is drawn to what is called the ‘means of possession’: the social contexts in which possession occurs and is controlled. The ambiguity by which control of the means of possession is exercised is explored in terms of a broader social context in which self-authority is both denied and demanded.     

Cultural influences on preference consistency: Consistency at the individual and collective levels

Previous research has shown that there are cultural differences in self-concept consistency across situations. However, little is known about cultural differences in preference consistency over time. The present research examined whether Americans are more consistent in their preferences over time than are Japanese. As hypothesized, there were cultural differences in self-reported ( and ) and actual ( and ) preference consistency over time. Further, cultural differences in preference consistency at the individual level (Study 1) were found to aggregate into collective level differences ( and ) in the consistency of preference trends, such as the popularity of baby names. Implications and future directions are discussed.     

浅论东汉末经学的思想改造

王符、仲长统开创的东汉儒学批判思潮,是经学向玄学相持与过渡过程中的一个重要的思想环节。东汉末年的这场经学思想改造运动具有重要的思想意义：一方面它为魏晋时期玄学的产生在理论上做着准备;一方面这种探索还处在原始状态,还存在着很多缺陷。但是它毕竟开启了一个新的理论时代,所以说东汉末年的这场经学变革是中国古代思想史上的一个创新,值得认真注意。     

仪式崇拜与文化传播--古代书院祭祀的社会空间

现有的书院研究注重于其教学、藏书功能方面,而对于祭祀活动及其社会意义,缺乏必要的关照。书院并非单纯的教学组织,应该是具有多重功能的社会组织。书院祭祀仪式中的符号崇拜和符号消费,展现了书院在传播社会文化方面的重要作用。书院祭祀所体现的文化载体功能,表明了它作为社会组织在文化传播活动中的独特地位。     

Integrating Cultural Community Psychology: Activity Settings and the Shared Meanings of Intersubjectivity

Cultural and community psychology share a common emphasis on context, yet their leading journals rarely cite each other’s articles. Greater integration of the concepts of culture and community within and across their disciplines would enrich and facilitate the viability of cultural community psychology. The contextual theory of activity settings is proposed as one means to integrate the concepts of culture and community in cultural community psychology. Through shared activities, participants develop common experiences that affect their psychological being, including their cognitions, emotions, and behavioral development. The psychological result of these experiences is intersubjectivity. Culture is defined as the shared meanings that people develop through their common historic, linguistic, social, economic, and political experiences. The shared meanings of culture arise through the intersubjectivity developed in activity settings. Cultural community psychology presents formidable epistemological challenges, but overcoming these challenges could contribute to the transformation and advancement of community psychology.     

明末传教士与西方演绎逻辑的传入

明末西方传教士出于抬高西方宗教、传播宗教福音的政治考量,翻译出版了大量的西方科学著作.西方演绎逻辑思想正是在这样的背景下,得以在明末被翻译介绍到国内.这其中,尤以利玛窦推动译介的<几何原本>及傅汎际推动译介的<名理探>最为知名.这其中,自然也毫无例外地带有浓厚的为宗教传道先行的色彩.但也在客观上帮助了中国人了解西方演绎逻辑的思想,带动了其后国内学界对挖掘本土以名辩学为基础的中国逻辑史研究的热潮.     

Attachment,religiousness, and distress among the religious and spiritual: links between religious syncretism and compensation

Using the Adult Attachment Interview, we explored differences in attachment, distress, and religiousness among groups of traditionally religious, New Age spiritual, and religiously syncretistic (high on both) participants (Ps) (N?=?75). Religiously syncretistic Ps showed a preponderance of insecure attachment and were raised by non-religious parents, who were estimated as relatively insensitive. Moreover, religiously syncretistic Ps perceived a personal relationship with God and had experienced increased religiousness/spirituality during difficult life periods, but did not suffer elevated distress. New Agers often mirrored the religiously syncretistic, but had a more even secure–insecure attachment distribution, typically did not perceive a personal relationship with God, and did suffer elevated distress. Traditionally religious Ps were low on distress and raised by religious parents, estimated as relatively sensitive. We conclude that religious syncretism may often express religion/spirituality as compensation. Finally, we speculate that a perceived relationship with God may attenuate distress among those at risk.     

Cultural Expectations of One's Own and Other Nations' Foreign Policy Action Templates

One useful conceptualization of culture is that of a preestablished set of behavioral competencies, which in turn form behavioral dispositions. According to this variant of culture theory, decision-makers faced with new situations will rely on established behavioral competencies in forming an initial policy response. This assumption can also be applied at the nation-state level, where established behavioral predispositions may lessen uncertainty and stress in ambiguous yet salient foreign policy situations. Likewise, observers in one nation-state may be able to identify such behavioral dispositions in other nation-states, lending greater transparency and predictability to international interactions. Do such culturally based action templates exist? Are they recognizable even to ordinary citizens? Citizens in Russia, Japan, and the United States were asked to posit the most likely and least likely behavioral responses to a variety of foreign policy situations by their own nation and by the other two nations in the sample. The results indicate that recognition of such templates takes place, and that recognition of one nation's template content by citizens of the other nations typically matches recognition of template content by the nation's own citizens. The research also shows that such action templates can be eroded and become unrecognizable over time, both to insiders and to outsiders.     

Strange Affinities in the Search for Personalized Health: New Age Practices and Genetic Testing

A prominent focus of New Age beliefs and practices has always been health and healing—including the use of holistic healing, power crystals, homeopathy, and complementary and alternative medicine. Given its association with modern science and medicine, genetic testing would seem to run counter to New Age alternative medical practices. On the other hand, the use of at-home genetic health tests and the use of such New Age alternative medical practices could both be motivated by a desire for personalized healthcare. Using data generated from a survey fielded on a probability sample of U.S. adults, we examine associations between individuals’ use of at-home genetic health tests and their use of power crystals and acupuncture or other homeopathic medicine. Logistic regression models find that those who use power crystals or homeopathic medicine have significantly greater odds of having used an at-home genetic health test. We discuss the implications of these findings for our understanding of the direct-to-consumer genetic testing market and the relationship between science, religion, and spirituality more broadly.     

Cultural Variability in the Manifestation of Expressed Emotion

We examined the distribution of expressed emotion (EE) and its indices in a sample of 224 family caregivers of individuals with schizophrenia pooled from 5 studies, 3 reflecting a contemporary sample of Mexican Americans (MA 2000, N =126), 1 of an earlier study of Mexican Americans (MA 1980, N =44), and the other of an earlier study of Anglo Americans (AA, N =54). Chi-square and path analyses revealed no significant differences between the 2 MA samples in rates of high EE, critical comments, hostility, and emotional over-involvement (EOI). Only caregiver warmth differed for the 2 MA samples; MA 1980 had higher warmth than MA 2000. Significant differences were consistently found between the combined MA samples and the AA sample; AAs had higher rates of high EE, more critical comments, less warmth, less EOI, and a high EE profile comprised more of criticism/hostility. We also examined the relationship of proxy measures of acculturation among the MA 2000 sample. The findings support and extend Jenkins' earlier observations regarding the cultural variability of EE for Mexican Americans. Implications are discussed regarding the cross-cultural measurement of EE and the focus of family interventions.     

When conveying a message may hurt the relationship: Cultural differences in the difficulty of using an answering machine

Cultures differ in their emphasis on the two core functions of communication, conveying information and maintaining the relationship. Because answering machines primarily serve the former function, their use may show cultural differences. Leaving a message is cognitively more taxing for Japanese than Americans, as indicated by poorer performance on a secondary task (Study 1). This performance decrement reflects that Japanese allocated more cognitive resources to tailoring the message to the recipient, consistent with their culture’s higher emphasis on relationship goals. Such cross-cultural differences were not restricted to the laboratory situation. Although equally likely to own an answering machine, Japanese reported a higher rate of hanging up when reaching an answering machine than Americans (Study 2). The difficulties that Japanese experience when leaving a message on an answering machine are partly due to the lack of feedback channel. Theoretical implications are discussed.     

儒家敬畏的核心文化心理特征及其内在理路

儒家围绕敬畏的心理机制、对象、涵育和效用构建了敬畏的理论体系。敬畏是主体在自觉体认崇高价值时所持守的旨在自我超越的既崇敬又谨畏的理性化道德情感; 儒家以内在的道德本心作为敬畏的本根,并将其落实为道德实践中对人伦、自然、生命、职事和人文等的外在崇高价值的敬畏; 儒家敬畏涵育围绕心理动力、内在涵养、外在范导和积习沉淀系统展开,可谓环环相扣、层层递进; 敬畏作为进德修业之基不仅不会戕害自由、尊严与创造,反而是达至无入而不自得的洒落境界的必由之路。     

五四新文化运动与孔子观念的根本转折

五四新文化运动中的孔子观念需作系统的梳理与分析。五四新文化运动的健将们主要是基于对尊孔派的反感和伦理、文化上的彻底觉悟而发起了对孔子与孔家店集中而猛烈的批评与攻击。他们所批判的主要是孔子的偶像 ,而并不反对孔子本人 ,破除孔子偶像的束缚而使人们的思想从权威和偏见中彻底解放出来 ,这是新文化运动最重要的历史功绩 ;他们虽不反对孔子本人 ,但对孔子与孔子之道采取的是一种社会语境决定论的或历史化的诠释与读解的态度 ,故带来了孔子观念的根本转折。