SYMBOLIC VIOLENCE IN SLAVOJ ŽIŽEK

the relation between resentment and factual communication

Abstract

The present article object is to investigate two concepts that the Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek uses in his work Violence, throughout his study on symbolic violence. The investigation examines the third chapter of the book, “Andante ma non troppo e molto cantabile”, going through two essays, where the philosopher establishes relations between the concepts of resentment and of factual communication with the political facts that he analyzes. On a path that involves semiotics, dialectical-materialistic analysis, psychoanalysis, ontology, analytical philosophy and sociology, Žižek approaches concepts by a transversal form, that can be thought interdisciplinarily and reflect the spirit of our time: the late capitalism, the mass consumer society, the multiculturalism and the liberal ideology. In periods of crisis and imminent risks of tragedies, it is important to know this approach, which proposes a case study that is not restricted to contemporary political-partisan dichotomies, often attesting the invalidity of such dichotomies.