"In one of the most eye-opening chapters from Jameson’s recent Valences of the Dialectic, even that most odious site of hyper-capitalism, Wal-Mart, is read dialectically in terms of its utopian potential. That such an unlikely institution might provide important insight into the logic of utopia might strike
some as counter-intuitive if not altogether misguided, casting doubt on the very utility of the dialectic with its many contortions. Still, those scandalized
by such an approach might be surprised to learn that Jameson has been doing this all along — Peter Sloterdijk’s cynical reason is utopian, Gary
Becker and the Chicago School are utopian, Hollywood popcorn movies are utopian, and so on. Indeed, with the dialectic “the most noxious
phenomena can serve as the repository and hiding place for all
kinds of unsuspected wish-fulfillments and Utopian gratifications (Valences of the Dialectic, 416).
Tag: walmart
"“Postmodernity” is not so much a word to describe a series of years or decades, beginning in the 1970s or what have you, but rather the name of a condition of stylistic overdevelopment in which the modernist break no longer obtains. Such a condition can appear and reappear at various points in history, a kind of motile Mannerism or Rococo, in the same way that the modern break itself has reappeared in any number of historical guises, from the Socratic break, to the Galilean break, to the Duchampian break, and on and on. Postmodernity, then, is better understood as a kind of depressive state, a psychological Thermidor in which the militant break becomes well-nigh impossible on the existential plane. (It is no surprise, then, that the greatest thinker of militancy in our times, Alain Badiou, emerged in the anglophone world precisely at the point when postmodernity outgrew its utility, Badiou’s project formulated on the basis of a reinvigorated modernism in which all subjects are militants of some form or another.)"
In Chapter 16 of Valences, "Utopia as Replication," Jameson proves his point through a powerful dystopia for the Left: Wal-Mart. We all know the horrors of Wal-Mart, so there is no need to repeat them here. But per Jameson, in its production of monopoly power, Wal-Mart is the “purest expression of that dynamic of capitalism which devours itself, which abolishes the market by means of the market itself.” The enormity of Wal-Mart has overcome the anarchy of capitalism and provides the necessities of life to the public, no matter how increasingly poor. This impoverishing power of the giant firm that exploits is suppliers and exploiting its workers, however, could be used in exactly the opposite way, “using its enormous purchasing power not just to raise the standard of living for its customers but also for its suppliers.” This new system of colossal coordination of productive forces could eliminate the opposition between producer and consumer altogether if concurrent with a structurally changed future. Again, he asserts, this is not praxis, not a Leninist plan to just “lop off what capitalistically mutilates this excellent apparatus” after the revolution. Rather, it is an imagining as positive what is currently negative to change the valence of Utopian futurity, to see the possible dystopic geneaologies of a different future.
1986 Pyramid Club, New York. "Post Post-Modernism," curated by DD Chapin
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Tag: walmart
- bill 1-04-2015 3:31 pm
"“Postmodernity” is not so much a word to describe a series of years or decades, beginning in the 1970s or what have you, but rather the name of a condition of stylistic overdevelopment in which the modernist break no longer obtains. Such a condition can appear and reappear at various points in history, a kind of motile Mannerism or Rococo, in the same way that the modern break itself has reappeared in any number of historical guises, from the Socratic break, to the Galilean break, to the Duchampian break, and on and on. Postmodernity, then, is better understood as a kind of depressive state, a psychological Thermidor in which the militant break becomes well-nigh impossible on the existential plane. (It is no surprise, then, that the greatest thinker of militancy in our times, Alain Badiou, emerged in the anglophone world precisely at the point when postmodernity outgrew its utility, Badiou’s project formulated on the basis of a reinvigorated modernism in which all subjects are militants of some form or another.)"
- bill 1-04-2015 3:37 pm [add a comment]
In Chapter 16 of Valences, "Utopia as Replication," Jameson proves his point through a powerful dystopia for the Left: Wal-Mart. We all know the horrors of Wal-Mart, so there is no need to repeat them here. But per Jameson, in its production of monopoly power, Wal-Mart is the “purest expression of that dynamic of capitalism which devours itself, which abolishes the market by means of the market itself.” The enormity of Wal-Mart has overcome the anarchy of capitalism and provides the necessities of life to the public, no matter how increasingly poor. This impoverishing power of the giant firm that exploits is suppliers and exploiting its workers, however, could be used in exactly the opposite way, “using its enormous purchasing power not just to raise the standard of living for its customers but also for its suppliers.” This new system of colossal coordination of productive forces could eliminate the opposition between producer and consumer altogether if concurrent with a structurally changed future. Again, he asserts, this is not praxis, not a Leninist plan to just “lop off what capitalistically mutilates this excellent apparatus” after the revolution. Rather, it is an imagining as positive what is currently negative to change the valence of Utopian futurity, to see the possible dystopic geneaologies of a different future.
- bill 1-05-2015 1:16 pm [add a comment]
1986 Pyramid Club, New York. "Post Post-Modernism," curated by DD Chapin
- Skinny 1-05-2015 3:46 pm [add a comment]