Abstract

This article explores the political potential of Slavoj Žižek's theory of ideology by unraveling its psychoanalytic presuppositions. Rather than a descriptive account of ideological procedures, Žižek's ideology critique leads to a sophisticated understanding of agency that calls into question the subject's unconscious attachment to his or her sociosymbolic universe. In terms of leftist anticapitalism, the key battle concerns the subject's pathological attachment to what is repudiated. Following from this awareness, Žižek suggests that capitalism can be effectively attacked only by questioning its concealed anchoring point: that is, liberal democracy.