Disavowal

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This book argues that the psychoanalytic concept of disavowal effectively captures the structure of our contemporary social responses to traumatic events, including climate change and shifts in societal norms. Unlike denialism, disavowal acknowledges what is disavowed, with Zupančič asserting that it is increasingly prevalent in our social and political life. Disavowal sustains belief by fervently proclaiming knowledge of the opposite, and its libidinal economy is integral to capitalism. The notion of fetishistic disavowal reveals how this mechanism allows individuals to acknowledge knowledge while simultaneously disregarding it through object-fetishism. Zupančič further illustrates that in today's disavowal structure, simply declaring knowledge becomes an object-fetish that obscures the reality of that knowledge, leading to a perverse manipulation of understanding. This disavowal structure is evident not just in extreme cases like conspiracy theories but also in the mundane continuation of business as usual, coupled with calls to adapt to new realities. To disrupt this pervasive disavowal, it is insufficient to merely change our perceptions; we must also reconsider how we think about the necessary changes themselves.