The Рroduction and Сonsumption of Violence in Сontemporary Capitalism

Article

Abstract

[In English]

This article analyzes the problem of violence in contemporary capitalism. Slavoj Žižek defines violence as a complex phenomenon functioning both on institutional and subjective levels. Žižek states that almost all contemporary social life is permeated by violence at some point or another and bases his conclusions on the critique of capitalism and its tendency to produce disposable populations throughout the history. According to the philosopher capitalism simultaneously produces and exploits violent outbursts in order to restructure itself and to get rid of unnecessary elements. In contrast, Henry Giroux and Brad Evans focus on disposability as a philosophical concept. They specify that certain conditions must be met in order to dispose of unnecessary elements. Violence must be normalized and become seductive in order to create a spectacle of violence, which in turn will obfuscate the exploitative principles of neoliberal capitalism. In other words, they are focusing on the problem of mediation of violence. Even though there are vast amounts of research done on the relation between capitalism and violence, there is very little research done on how exactly capitalism produces and incorporates this phenomenon, and how it is mediated in order to achieve positive results. This article seeks to define what contemporary practices are being used to normalize violence in contemporary neoliberal capitalism.