Surplus Value & Exploitation
Marx's distinction in Capital between capital subsuming pre-existing production forms (formal) and reshaping the material process of production itself (real); Žižek uses it to endorse Baudrillard's critique of orthodox productivism.
In his words 2
“What I am claiming is that to grasp today's capitalist dynamics, this logic of exploitation is no longer enough.”24:40 Communism in the 21st Century · limits of classical exploitation theory
“Even when formally you have no domination, exploitation is still here. If we just focus on domination then we mystify even the revolts, demonstrations going on today.”1:16:37 The Empowerment of the Right and the Dissolution of the Left · exploitation vs. domination as analytical categories
The stories that teach it
the jokes and anecdotes he reaches for when he works in this idea, ranked by how many of its talks they turn up in; each card is one story, with every retelling on its page
Uber and the small capitalist
Uber’s ideology claims everyone is a 'small capitalist' because drivers own their cars/computers, thereby blurring class tension and hiding exploitation.
St. Louis Hegelians
Žižek recounts the story of German high school teachers in St. Louis who founded the first Hegelian school in America, believing the 'Spirit' had moved from Europe to St. Louis. He uses this to mock the idea of a fixed geographical center of philosophy, noting how the 'Spirit'…
V for Vendetta morning after
In the final scene of V for Vendetta thousands of unarmed Londoners march on parliament and the people take over; Žižek says he would sell his mother into slavery to see Part 2, what happens the day after the victory.
China banning time-travel and alternate-history narratives
Chinese authorities reportedly ban time-travel and alternate-history topics in narrative media. Žižek finds this a good sign: at least those in power are still afraid of the popular imagination, unlike the West, where no prohibition is needed because we cannot imagine an alter…
Lacanian jealous husband
Lacan's formula that pathological jealousy is pathological regardless of its factual truth, what matters is why the subject needs the fantasy of the unfaithful wife to maintain their subjective consistency. Žižek applies this to anti-Semitism.
Bill Gates as rent-extractor from general intellect
Gates became the world's richest person not through standard Marxist exploitation of workers (who are actually better paid than average) but by charging rent for access to the digital space, the internet commons, that we all share.
Where it comes up 45
58 moments located in the transcripts, click a timestamp to play from there