Slavoj Žižek on the Feel-Good Ideology of Starbucks

Back in 2010, we pre­sent­ed an ani­mat­ed video where Slavoj Žižek, our favorite Sloven­ian the­o­rist, iden­ti­fied a new trend in mod­ern cap­i­tal­ism. Nowa­days, mar­keters have found a crafty way to rework Max Weber’s Protes­tant Eth­ic. They tell us we can achieve per­son­al redemp­tion not through hard work and amass­ing sav­ings, but by con­sum­ing the right prod­ucts. When you buy eco-friend­ly prod­ucts, fair trade goods, or prod­ucts that yield some kind of char­i­ta­ble div­i­dend, you don’t have to think twice about the cost of your con­sumerism. Not when you’ve done some good and earned your­self some good cap­i­tal­ist kar­ma.

This line of think­ing returns in Žižek’s new film The Per­vert’s Guide to Ide­ol­o­gy, where, once again, he focus­es on one of the world’s most effec­tive mar­ket­ing oper­a­tions, Star­bucks. This, after hav­ing seem­ing­ly imbibed a “Ven­ti” or “Trenta” por­tion of the prod­uct.

To drill deep­er into Zizek’s thoughts on this sub­ject, see his 30-minute lec­ture “First as Tragedy, Then as Farce.” For more clips from his new film, see our recent posts:

Slavoj Žižek Exam­ines the Per­verse Ide­ol­o­gy of Beethoven’s Ode to Joy

Slavoj Žižek’s Pervert’s Guide to Ide­ol­o­gy Decodes The Dark Knight and They Live

via Bib­liok­lept


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Comments (5)
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  • Derm-in-NH says:

    This guy is a hoot! Just watch; in ten or so years he will be mak­ing ads for Louis Vuit­ton.

  • Uncle Bill says:

    How very, very pro­found — nev­er would have worked that out for myself. And anoth­er thing — did­n’t your moth­er tell you to use a han­ky when you need­ed to wipe your nose?

  • Alex says:

    Could he lay off the coke next time? But yes, well put.

  • Raymond says:

    Dam.. That is truth. I have to admit I have been guilty of this ratio­nal. And then all the links.. that was pret­ty legit.. Okay, excuse me while I go rethink my life.

  • Kritdikorn Wongswangpanich says:

    This pho­to answers it all.nnhttps://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150816636548610&set=a.10150672990093610.413348.588908609&type=3&src=https%3A%2F%2Ffbcdn-sphotos-h‑a.akamaihd.net%2Fhphotos-ak-ash3%2F535229_10150816636548610_1429107072_n.jpg&size=903%2C338

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