First as Tragedy, Then as Farce Book Summary - First as Tragedy, Then as Farce Book explained in key points

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First as Tragedy, Then as Farce summary

Name: First as Tragedy, Then as Farce
Rating: 4.5 (55 reviews)
Author: Slavoj Žižek

Slavoj Žižek

Why the crises keep happening

4.5 (55 ratings)

21 mins

What is First as Tragedy, Then as Farce about?

First as Tragedy, Then as Farce (2008) sets out to uncover the hidden ideology that surrounds us in our everyday lives. In examining how capitalist society affects our lives and permeates the way we think, the book ultimately offers a new and better alternative to the way our world is structured today.

Table of Contents

First as Tragedy, Then as Farce
summarized in 9 key ideas

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Key idea 1 of 9

What’s in it for me? See how the ideology of capitalism seeps into every aspect of society.

Karl Marx once remarked that, in history, events happen “first as tragedy, then as farce.” Although he was writing in the nineteenth century, we can still see this observation playing out if we look at more recent events.

First, we have a tragic event such as 9/11, followed by a farcical one like the financial crisis of 2007-8. Both events were at least partly borne of the same global system; the first one was truly horrendous, the second almost absurd.

Why does this happen? Why, after tragic events, do we persist with the methods that eventually produce farcical ones? To put it differently, why do we continue with a capitalist system, which over the last decades has led to so many crises?

These blinks, based on the thinking of influential modern philosopher Slavoj Žižek, try to explain why. They also provide a hint of what could be a better system: communism. Curious about that? Let’s get into it.

In these blinks, you’ll discover

why, although you have many permissions, you have very few rights;
why crises in capitalism actually make it stronger; and
why communism is nothing like you think it is.

Capitalism isn’t a mechanism, but an ideology that is strengthened by crisis.

People who have grown up under capitalism view it as the perfectly natural evolution of social organization; but they would be wrong.

While capitalism is often presented as a completely neutral method of organization that makes the economic system work like a well-oiled machine, the fact is that capitalism is an ideology – a system of ideas that makes us do what we do.

Too often, capitalism is portrayed in technical terms as something that simply works, and not as something that is imbued with ideas about how the world works.

However, the fact that capitalism can function in any sort of civilization with systems of meaning, such as Buddhism, Christianity or the belief in the welfare state, is proof that capitalism doesn’t just work. These systems of meaning serve as a type of security that people can rely on when their dreams of self-made success – dreams embedded in the capitalist ideology – inevitably crumble, unfulfilled.

If capitalism were natural or neutral, we wouldn’t need these systems of meaning to fall back on.

So why do so many of us consider capitalism to be natural and desirable, and continue to trust in a system that goes through crisis after crisis? Well, each crisis of capitalism acts as a type of shock therapy that keeps us dreaming.

While crises can sometimes make us challenge our beliefs, they more often make us go back to basics. Rather than critically reflecting on the dominant ideology, we instead view crisis as the result of not adhering to the ideology strictly enough.

For example, when socialist regimes were faced with the crises that led to their demise, the response from the leaders was, it’s not socialist enough. When the people of Eastern Europe rebelled against their Soviet-supported governments in the twentieth century, they were met not with compromise, but with even more ardently socialist regimes.

A more contemporary example is the 2008 financial crisis, which has been described as the result of too much state intervention, laws and regulation. In reality, it was a result of woefully inadequate regulation.

Capitalism falsely credits itself for society’s freedoms while blaming systematic errors on individuals.

Conventional wisdom states that free trade and open markets – both of which are essential tenets of capitalism – are the basis for freedom and democracy. But is this really the case? As you’ll soon find out, not really.

In the capitalist society we live in, many of the freedoms and rights we enjoy are portrayed as a result of capitalism, when they are in fact the result of revolutionary politics.

Capitalism has entered a new phase that can be misconceived as egalitarian.

Despite offering some hopeful prospects, the freedoms we’ve achieved in spite of capitalism have failed to establish an equal society.

Capitalism has reached a new stage that has less clearly defined hierarchical structures than in the past. Since the 1970s, capitalism has turned away from an organizational structure whereby the boss at the top controlled everything below. Instead, modern-day labor is organized into teams and projects, which at first glance appear to constitute a more egalitarian and equal distribution of power.

The hidden ideology of capitalism shifts focus away from our real enemies.

What if the conflicts around the world actually weren’t the real conflicts at the root of global problems?

In capitalism, we latch onto ideological fetishes that hide the harsh truths behind other ideas. In modern usage, the word fetish evokes thoughts of bizarre sexual activities. The older meaning of the word, however, is simply “an object that has been given a greater value or quality.” For example, when someone’s grandmother dies, they might keep an object that is somehow connected with the deceased, like a book or a piece of jewelry, through which their grandmother can “live on.”

Ideology is hidden in the new ways we consume and buy things.

What motivates you to buy one brand of, say, toothpaste over another? While it may be the material or economic benefit that one brand has over the other, in all likelihood the reality is far more complicated.

Consumption has shifted from a symbol of culture, experiences and identity to actually being an experience in itself. In other words, the act of buying and choosing what to buy is the real experience; the usage of the product is secondary.

A revamping of the communist idea is the only real remedy for capitalist ideology.

What comes to mind when you hear the word “communism”? For most people, the word conjures up atrocities committed by Joseph Stalin or other communist leaders. But could there ever be a viable communist alternative to the capitalist system?

If this is to be the case, as the author believes, communism must be re-thought from the ground up in order to lay the foundation for collective action.

Today’s world contains four great antagonisms, three of which concern culture, environment and humanity.

So which problems in our capitalist world act as antagonisms – essential battlegrounds and arenas for resistance – that communism is best positioned to respond to?

The first three antagonisms in today’s world center around our survival. They all involve the shared resources, or commons, of our societies

The conflict between the Included and Excluded lies at the heart of the need for communism.

While the previous three antagonisms focus on the survival of the human race, the fourth is the division between the Included and the Excluded. It is this antagonism that is most crucial, and also the one that requires a radically new way of thinking.

The Excluded comprises all those who don’t have a place in the social order and are thus excluded from decision making. This group forms a “part of no-part”: their place is exactly that they have no place in the public sphere of debate.

Forces that seem opposed to capitalism will not result in an egalitarian society.

Many people dismiss communism as something that belongs in the dustbin of history. After all, hasn’t it already been proven not to work? On the contrary! In fact, no truly communistic society has ever existed.

The failure of the USSR, often touted as the final nail in the coffin proving the inadequacy of communism, was actually a result of socialism, not communism. In a socialist society, the commons are owned by the state, and within the socialist state people are assigned a role in the community. We call this communitarianism.

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Best quote from First as Tragedy, Then as Farce

Like love, ideology is blind, even if the people caught up in it are not.

—Slavoj Žižek

About the Author

Slavoj Žižek is a philosopher and cultural critic from Ljubljana, Slovenia, and is a senior researcher at the University of Ljubljana. He is also Global Distinguished Professor of German at New York University and international director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities in London.

Who should read First as Tragedy, Then as Farce?

People interested in politics, society and philosophy
Fans of Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein and Alan Badiou
Students of philosophy or psychoanalysis

Categories with First as Tragedy, Then as Farce

Politics Economics Society & Culture

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