On the Pleasure Principle in Culture

On the Pleasure Principle in Culture

Author: Robert Pfaller

Publisher: Verso Books

Published: 2014-07-15

Total Pages: 386

ISBN-13: 1781685290

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In this fascinating work of cultural theory and philosophy, Robert Pfaller explores the hidden cost of our contemporary approach to pleasure, belief and illusion. Sports, design, eroticism, social intercourse and games-indeed, all those aspects of our culture commonly deemed "pleasurable"-seem to require beliefs that many regard as illusory. But in considering themselves above the self-deceptions of the crowd, those same sceptics are prone to dismissing a majority of the population as naive or misguided. In doing so, they create a false opposition between the 'simple' masses and their more enlightened rulers. And this dichotomy then functions as an ideological support for neoliberal government: citizens become irrational victims, to be ruled over by a protective security state. What initially appears to be a universal pleasure principle-the role of "anonymous illusions" in mass culture-in this way becomes a rationale for dismantling democracy.


Book Synopsis On the Pleasure Principle in Culture by : Robert Pfaller

Download or read book On the Pleasure Principle in Culture written by Robert Pfaller and published by Verso Books. This book was released on 2014-07-15 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this fascinating work of cultural theory and philosophy, Robert Pfaller explores the hidden cost of our contemporary approach to pleasure, belief and illusion. Sports, design, eroticism, social intercourse and games-indeed, all those aspects of our culture commonly deemed "pleasurable"-seem to require beliefs that many regard as illusory. But in considering themselves above the self-deceptions of the crowd, those same sceptics are prone to dismissing a majority of the population as naive or misguided. In doing so, they create a false opposition between the 'simple' masses and their more enlightened rulers. And this dichotomy then functions as an ideological support for neoliberal government: citizens become irrational victims, to be ruled over by a protective security state. What initially appears to be a universal pleasure principle-the role of "anonymous illusions" in mass culture-in this way becomes a rationale for dismantling democracy.


On The Pleasure Principle In Culture

On The Pleasure Principle In Culture

Author: Robert Pfaller

Publisher: Verso Books

Published: 2014-07-15

Total Pages: 305

ISBN-13: 1781681740

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

For many illusions it is easy to find owners—people who proudly declare their belief in things such as life after death, human reason, or the self-regulation of financial markets. Yet there are also different kinds of illusions, too, for example, in art: trompe l'oeil painting pleases its observers with "anonymous illusions"—illusions where it is not entirely clear who should be deceived. Anonymous illusions offer a universal pleasure principle within culture. They are present in games, sports, design, eroticism, manners, charm, beauty, and so on. However, it seems that this pleasure principle is increasingly misinterpreted. The proud proprietors of certain illusions are no longer capable of recognizing that they also follow anonymous illusions. As a consequence, they mistake happy, polite others for naïve idiots or "savages"—the possessors of stupid illusions whose happiness is an obscene intrusion into the lives of more rational creatures. The misrecognition of anonymous illusions thus becomes a crucial ideological bedrock for contemporary neoliberal policy. Hatred of the other's happiness leads to the destruction of the public sphere and to a state that, rather than fostering and stimulating its citizens' capacities, interpellates them as victims and limits itself to providing "protective" or repressive measures directed against them.


Book Synopsis On The Pleasure Principle In Culture by : Robert Pfaller

Download or read book On The Pleasure Principle In Culture written by Robert Pfaller and published by Verso Books. This book was released on 2014-07-15 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For many illusions it is easy to find owners—people who proudly declare their belief in things such as life after death, human reason, or the self-regulation of financial markets. Yet there are also different kinds of illusions, too, for example, in art: trompe l'oeil painting pleases its observers with "anonymous illusions"—illusions where it is not entirely clear who should be deceived. Anonymous illusions offer a universal pleasure principle within culture. They are present in games, sports, design, eroticism, manners, charm, beauty, and so on. However, it seems that this pleasure principle is increasingly misinterpreted. The proud proprietors of certain illusions are no longer capable of recognizing that they also follow anonymous illusions. As a consequence, they mistake happy, polite others for naïve idiots or "savages"—the possessors of stupid illusions whose happiness is an obscene intrusion into the lives of more rational creatures. The misrecognition of anonymous illusions thus becomes a crucial ideological bedrock for contemporary neoliberal policy. Hatred of the other's happiness leads to the destruction of the public sphere and to a state that, rather than fostering and stimulating its citizens' capacities, interpellates them as victims and limits itself to providing "protective" or repressive measures directed against them.


The Pleasure Principle

The Pleasure Principle

Author: Michael Bronski

Publisher: Macmillan

Published: 2000-02-23

Total Pages: 362

ISBN-13: 9780312252878

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A brilliant and thought-provoking examination of the complicated relationship between gay and mainstream culture--and a finalist for the 1998 Lambda Literary Award and the Randy Shilts Award.


Book Synopsis The Pleasure Principle by : Michael Bronski

Download or read book The Pleasure Principle written by Michael Bronski and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2000-02-23 with total page 362 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A brilliant and thought-provoking examination of the complicated relationship between gay and mainstream culture--and a finalist for the 1998 Lambda Literary Award and the Randy Shilts Award.


Pleasure Principle

Pleasure Principle

Author: Chris Steele-Perkins

Publisher:

Published: 1990

Total Pages: 96

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

England is a strange place-- funny, complex and sad. Distance yourself from it, experience other cultures-- then look again. That strangeness becomes almost overwhelming. This is a powerful and perceptive view of England in the eighties. Using ideas of 'pleasure, ' Chis Steele-Perkins explores a public, ritual face that cuts across class and location. What we see is not only familiar it is also frequently disturbing. Chris Steele-Perkins is a "Magnum photographer whose work has been seen in most major publications in the world. In 1988 he won both the World Press Photo Oskar Barnack Award and the Tom Hopkinson Award for Photojournalism; in 1989 he won the Robert Capa Gold Medal. He has published a number of books including "The Teds (1979, Travelling Light) and "Beirut Frontline Story (1982, Pluto Press).


Book Synopsis Pleasure Principle by : Chris Steele-Perkins

Download or read book Pleasure Principle written by Chris Steele-Perkins and published by . This book was released on 1990 with total page 96 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: England is a strange place-- funny, complex and sad. Distance yourself from it, experience other cultures-- then look again. That strangeness becomes almost overwhelming. This is a powerful and perceptive view of England in the eighties. Using ideas of 'pleasure, ' Chis Steele-Perkins explores a public, ritual face that cuts across class and location. What we see is not only familiar it is also frequently disturbing. Chris Steele-Perkins is a "Magnum photographer whose work has been seen in most major publications in the world. In 1988 he won both the World Press Photo Oskar Barnack Award and the Tom Hopkinson Award for Photojournalism; in 1989 he won the Robert Capa Gold Medal. He has published a number of books including "The Teds (1979, Travelling Light) and "Beirut Frontline Story (1982, Pluto Press).


Beyond the Pleasure Principle

Beyond the Pleasure Principle

Author: Sigmund Freud

Publisher: Penguin UK

Published: 2003-07-31

Total Pages: 320

ISBN-13: 0141931663

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A collection of some of Freud's most famous essays, including ON THE INTRODUCTION OF NARCISSISM; REMEMBERING, REPEATING AND WORKING THROUGH; BEYOND THE PLEASURE PRINCIPLE; THE EGO AND THE ID and INHIBITION, SYMPTOM AND FEAR.


Book Synopsis Beyond the Pleasure Principle by : Sigmund Freud

Download or read book Beyond the Pleasure Principle written by Sigmund Freud and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2003-07-31 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A collection of some of Freud's most famous essays, including ON THE INTRODUCTION OF NARCISSISM; REMEMBERING, REPEATING AND WORKING THROUGH; BEYOND THE PLEASURE PRINCIPLE; THE EGO AND THE ID and INHIBITION, SYMPTOM AND FEAR.


The Pursuit of Pleasure

The Pursuit of Pleasure

Author: Arsen Dallan

Publisher: Ibidem Press

Published: 2016

Total Pages: 202

ISBN-13: 9783838209500

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This important book unveils how the pleasure principle has taken humanity hostage to the powers of branding and consumerism, steering our most basic desires. Radically re-evaluating the notion of pleasure and arguing for a deep societal change, it shows the way to a new humanist culture.


Book Synopsis The Pursuit of Pleasure by : Arsen Dallan

Download or read book The Pursuit of Pleasure written by Arsen Dallan and published by Ibidem Press. This book was released on 2016 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This important book unveils how the pleasure principle has taken humanity hostage to the powers of branding and consumerism, steering our most basic desires. Radically re-evaluating the notion of pleasure and arguing for a deep societal change, it shows the way to a new humanist culture.


Civilization and Its Discontents

Civilization and Its Discontents

Author: Sigmund Freud

Publisher: Courier Dover Publications

Published: 1994-01-01

Total Pages: 81

ISBN-13: 0486282538

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

(Dover thrift editions).


Book Synopsis Civilization and Its Discontents by : Sigmund Freud

Download or read book Civilization and Its Discontents written by Sigmund Freud and published by Courier Dover Publications. This book was released on 1994-01-01 with total page 81 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: (Dover thrift editions).


The Pleasure Principle

The Pleasure Principle

Author: Michael Bronski

Publisher:

Published: 1998-07

Total Pages:

ISBN-13: 9780312181550

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In this compelling book, journalist Michael Bronski explores the often unacknowledged but undeniable impact that gay sensibility has had in breaking down traditional and repressive structures in society.


Book Synopsis The Pleasure Principle by : Michael Bronski

Download or read book The Pleasure Principle written by Michael Bronski and published by . This book was released on 1998-07 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this compelling book, journalist Michael Bronski explores the often unacknowledged but undeniable impact that gay sensibility has had in breaking down traditional and repressive structures in society.


Beyond the Pleasure Principle

Beyond the Pleasure Principle

Author: Sigmund Freud

Publisher: Broadview Press

Published: 2011-03-02

Total Pages: 397

ISBN-13: 1551119943

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Beyond the Pleasure Principle is Freud’s most philosophical and speculative work, exploring profound questions of life and death, pleasure and pain. In it Freud introduces the fundamental concepts of the “repetition compulsion” and the “death drive,” according to which a perverse, repetitive, self-destructive impulse opposes and even trumps the creative drive, or Eros. The work is one of Freud’s most intensely debated, and raises important questions that have been discussed by philosophers and psychoanalysts since its first publication in 1920. The text is presented here in a contemporary new translation by Gregory C. Richter. Appendices trace the work’s antecedents and the many responses to it, including texts by Plato, Friedrich Nietzsche, Melanie Klein, Herbert Marcuse, Jacques Derrida, and Judith Butler, among many others.


Book Synopsis Beyond the Pleasure Principle by : Sigmund Freud

Download or read book Beyond the Pleasure Principle written by Sigmund Freud and published by Broadview Press. This book was released on 2011-03-02 with total page 397 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Beyond the Pleasure Principle is Freud’s most philosophical and speculative work, exploring profound questions of life and death, pleasure and pain. In it Freud introduces the fundamental concepts of the “repetition compulsion” and the “death drive,” according to which a perverse, repetitive, self-destructive impulse opposes and even trumps the creative drive, or Eros. The work is one of Freud’s most intensely debated, and raises important questions that have been discussed by philosophers and psychoanalysts since its first publication in 1920. The text is presented here in a contemporary new translation by Gregory C. Richter. Appendices trace the work’s antecedents and the many responses to it, including texts by Plato, Friedrich Nietzsche, Melanie Klein, Herbert Marcuse, Jacques Derrida, and Judith Butler, among many others.


Interpassivity

Interpassivity

Author: Robert Pfaller

Publisher: Edinburgh University Press

Published: 2017-06-02

Total Pages: 160

ISBN-13: 1474422950

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Why do people record TV programmes instead of watching them? Why are former alcoholics pleased to let other people drink in their place? Why can ritual machines pray in place of believers? Robert Pfaller advances the theory of 'interpassivity' as delegated consumption and enjoyment. Applicable to both art and everyday life, the concept allows him to tackle a vast range of phenomena: culture, art, sports and religion. Pfaller criticises dominant assumptions, offers an escape from prevailing ideologies and exposes how cultural capitalism promotes commodities with the promise of happiness.


Book Synopsis Interpassivity by : Robert Pfaller

Download or read book Interpassivity written by Robert Pfaller and published by Edinburgh University Press. This book was released on 2017-06-02 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why do people record TV programmes instead of watching them? Why are former alcoholics pleased to let other people drink in their place? Why can ritual machines pray in place of believers? Robert Pfaller advances the theory of 'interpassivity' as delegated consumption and enjoyment. Applicable to both art and everyday life, the concept allows him to tackle a vast range of phenomena: culture, art, sports and religion. Pfaller criticises dominant assumptions, offers an escape from prevailing ideologies and exposes how cultural capitalism promotes commodities with the promise of happiness.