{"id":12018,"date":"2013-09-27T11:18:18","date_gmt":"2013-09-27T16:18:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.terada.ca\/discourse\/?p=12018"},"modified":"2013-09-27T12:46:02","modified_gmt":"2013-09-27T17:46:02","slug":"mcgowan-hegel-master-slave","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.terada.ca\/discourse\/2013\/09\/27\/mcgowan-hegel-master-slave\/","title":{"rendered":"mcgowan hegel master slave"},"content":{"rendered":"

McGowan, Todd. Enjoying What We Don\u2019t Have: The Political Project of Psychoanalysis<\/em>. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. 2013.
\nChapter 3: Class Status and Enjoyment<\/span><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

McGowan argues that what Hegel fails to see “how recognition functions as a barrier to enjoyment<\/span>. In the struggle for recognition,the master wagers her or his enjoyment<\/span> precisely because it has no value for the master. Unlike the slave, the master finds no satisfaction in her or his own enjoyment<\/span>, which is why she or he can risk it \u2013 with life itself \u2013 for the sake of prestige [recognition].<\/p>\n

As a result, the master may eat, wear, or hold what the the slave produces, but she or he cannot enjoy it. In assuming the position of mastery and acquiring the recognition that accompanies it, the master makes a fundamental sacrifice of enjoyment<\/span> that obtaining an object from the slave cannot redeem. The slave, on the other hand, remains free to enjoy, which is what, as Jacques Lacan points out, Hegel fails to see. 93<\/p>\n

\ud83d\ude42 The upshot of this is that the master invests in the idea of symbolic status and derives an identity from it while the slave adopts an attitude of indifference toward symbolic identity and is thus able to enjoy<\/span><\/strong>. 94<\/p>\n

\ud83d\ude42 In capitalism this structural elimination of the outside position (the slave’s position) means the elimination of a site for enjoyment<\/span> that existed in earlier societies not found on appropriation of surplus value. Here the slave can enjoy and its only limit to enjoyment<\/span> is what his\/her master dictates, the restriction is an external one. McGowan is trying to make that point that with capitalism, the restriction becomes internal.\u00a0 According to McGowan:<\/p>\n

Within capitalist society, recognition becomes that which no one can avoid \u2013 a universal that structures subjectivity. If one becomes an enjoying subject, one can do so only by passing through and then rejecting the lure of recognition and class status. One can enjoy only after having initially sacrificed<\/span><\/strong> enjoyment<\/span> in search of recognition<\/strong>. This process reveals the true nature of enjoyment<\/span>, obscured in precapitalist societies. Enjoyment<\/span> is never direct but always based on a prior loss or sacrifice<\/strong>. One enjoys through this loss, and thus one enjoys partially<\/span><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

[\u2026] the partiality of today\u2019s enjoyment<\/span> does not point toward a future enjoyment<\/span> that would be complete. Its partiality is based on an internal necessity: without the loss of the its object, the subject cannot enjoy; it enjoys the object only in its absence. This enjoyment<\/span>, like that of precapitalist epochs, has an infinite quality to it. But it is a fully realized infinite, an infinite that includes its limit \u2013 the necessity of the prior loss \u2013 internally, rather than continually moving toward this limit and never reaching it. 97<\/p>\n

To give in to the temptation of recognition and class status is to continue to sacrifice one\u2019s enjoyment<\/span> for the sake of the production and reproduction of the social order.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The path to enjoyment<\/span> is much more difficult. It involves resisting the image of enjoyment <\/span>that social recognition uses to sell itself<\/span> and focusing on an enjoyment<\/span> that can\u2019t be imagined.<\/p>\n

This is the real enjoyment<\/span> that the subject endures rather than performs<\/strong>. It is an enjoyment<\/span> that generates anxiety and suffering<\/strong>; it is rooted in loss but at the same time, it is the only enjoyment<\/span> that leaves the subject satisfied rather than continually seeking a richer experience elsewhere. 98<\/p>\n

On page 95 McGowan’s argument goes a bit haywire<\/em>. He should stay away from trying to connect sacrifice of enjoyment<\/span> with surplus enjoyment<\/span>. I think we need to connect with Zupancic here.<\/p>\n

Capitalism we have surplus labor which worker performs over and above the paid labor. There is necessary labor time<\/em> which worker must perform to reproduce itself, surplus labor time<\/em> “in contrast is done for the sake of progress. … In the act of performing surplus labor, one spends time working that might otherwise be spent enjoying<\/span><\/strong>; one works excessively at the expense of one’s enjoyment<\/span><\/strong>, which is itself excessive.” 95<\/p>\n

\ud83d\ude42 Surplus labor is the excessive work and time that could have otherwise gone towards enjoyment<\/span>. McGowan states, “surplus value<\/span> that surplus labor<\/span> creates is the way that sacrificed enjoyment<\/span> manifests itself in the capitalist system, and the universality of the appropriation of surplus value<\/span> renders this sacrifice inescapable. 95<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

McGowan, Todd. Enjoying What We Don\u2019t Have: The Political Project of Psychoanalysis. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. 2013. Chapter 3: Class Status and Enjoyment. McGowan argues that what Hegel fails to see “how recognition functions as a barrier to enjoyment. In the struggle for recognition,the master wagers her or his enjoyment precisely because it has … Continue reading “mcgowan hegel master slave”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[100,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12018","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hegel","category-jouissance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.terada.ca\/discourse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12018","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.terada.ca\/discourse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.terada.ca\/discourse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.terada.ca\/discourse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.terada.ca\/discourse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12018"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.terada.ca\/discourse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12018\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12022,"href":"https:\/\/www.terada.ca\/discourse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12018\/revisions\/12022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.terada.ca\/discourse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.terada.ca\/discourse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.terada.ca\/discourse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}