Abstract
The political dimension of signifier is a hidden clue that runs through structuralism to post-Marxism. Empty signifier has no specific signification but can embrace all signifiers. Its theoretical foundations are the difference and arbitrariness of language systems, the signifier chain, anchor point, and object a as developed by Lacan. Levi-Strauss' analysis of the "excess of signifier" and "Mana" in treatment of shamanism has the connotation of empty signifier. Laclau believed that the process of cohesion from floating signifiers to the master signifier with "links" is the process of leadership competition and formation, where the dominant signifier has to absorb the connotation of other signifiers and transforms from particularity to universality. Žižek rejects Laclau's optimism. He emphasizes more on particular hegemony and the capital logic that has been excluded from plural democracy and occupied a dominant position. Empty signifier and master signifier are the unity of opposites. The former emphasizes emptiness and universality, while the latter emphasizes dominance and particularity. It is from the perspective of the latter that Žižek criticizes the empty signifier emphasized by Laclau. Marx's and Žižek's ideological criticism on ideologies and Laclau's analysis of the formation of hegemony can be regarded as two different political analysis models. The former focuses on the vertical exploration of the nature beneath the surface, while the latter describes the contestation among multiple factors in the planar dimension.
First Page
206
Last Page
216
Recommended Citation
Xiao, Weijing. 2020. "The Political Dimension of "Empty Signifier": From Levi-Strauss to Žižek." Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art 40, (2): pp.206-216. https://tsla.researchcommons.org/journal/vol40/iss2/16
