La production de l'idéologie dominante

Die Produktion der herrschenden Ideologie. Dieser Artikel beinhaltet Dokumente und Analysen, die unter verschiedenen Gesichtspunkten dasselbe Objekt behandeln : Die heute im Felde der Machtausübung vorherrschende Sozialphilosophie. Diese neue herrschende Ideologie wird gleichzeitig als Produkt und Produktions art betrachtet. 1. Die Enzyklopädie der Allgemeinplätze In Form einer Enzyklopädie oder eines Wörterbuchs findet man hier die auf den Orten der Macht üblichen Allgemeinplätze : Jeder Eingang entspricht einem der Stichwörter dieser Ideologie und beinhaltet eines oder mehrere Zitate aus den analysierten individuellen oder kollektiven Werken (Diese wurden nach einem Auswahlverfahren ausgesucht, das die Zugehörigkeit der Autoren zu offiziellen Instanzen und die Häufigkeit gegenseitigen Zi- tierens berücksichtigt). 2. Die konigliche Wissenschaft und der Fatalismus des Möglichen Die Analyse dieser Texte erlaubt es, die wichtigsten Schemen aufzudecken, von denen die herrschende Rede art ausgeht : die Gegenüberstellung von "Vergangenheit" und "Zukunft", von "geschlossen" und "offen",von "klein" und "gross", von "beweglich" und "unbeweglich",von "Stagnation" und "Wachstum, etc. Jeder dieser grundsätzlichen Gegensätze bezieht sich mehr oder weniger direkt auf jede-n anderen und das evolutionistische Schema, das sie ausdrücken, kann auf alles angewandt werden von den Weinbauern des Südens bis zur sozial wissenschaftlichen Forschung. Aber die am direktesten politische Wirkung dieses Hauptgegensatzes wird klar, wenn man das neue Klassifizierungssystem auf den Gegensatz zwischen rechts und links anwendet, was dann ergibt, dass dieser grundlegende Gegensatz der politischen Landschaft "überholt" wäre : nach dieser Denkart befinden sich "Sozialismus" und "Gewerkschaftspolitik" auf Seiten des "unbeweglichen" und des "geschlossenen". Es sind "Archaismen" : sie gehören genauso zur Vergangenheit wie symmetrisch der "Faschismus" und der "Parlamentarismus". Dieser optimistische Evolutionismus des erneuerten Konservatismus (von dem es ebenfalls universitäre Varianten gibt) ist das Produkt desselben Schemas wie des konservativen Pessimismus, dessen Hierarchien er lediglich auf den Kopf stellt. Gegen die pessimistische Philosophie der absteigenden Fraktionen der Bourgeoisie bekräftigt die neue Sozialphilosophie ihren Glauben in die Zukunft und vor allem in die Zukunft von Wissenschaft und Technik. Sie opfert die alten festgefügten Ideologien einer offenen Ideologie, die einem sozialen expandieren den Universum entspricht. Als scheinbar widersprüchliche Kombination ist der progressistische Konservatismus einer Fraktion der herrschenden Klasse eigen, die für sich als objektive Gesetzmässigkeit anerkennt, was das objektive Gesetz flir ihren Weiterbestand ist, nämlich verändern um zu bewahren.Der erneuerte Konservatismus unterscheidet sich vom alten Konservatismus, da er das Unabwendbare will. Dieses ist einerseits, was in der wahrscheinlichen Zukunft strukturell objektiv im Interesse der herrschenden Klasse ist und was man versucht zu fördern, indem man es als unabwendbar dar stellt ; andererseits beinhaltet es, was unbedingt zuge standen werden muss um das zu vermeiden was im bedingt vermieden werden muss, nämlich dea Umsturz der etablierten Ordnung, dessen Möglichkeit die Gesetze der geschichtlichen Entwicklung auch beinhalten. Die neue herrschende Fraktion ist ausgebildet, insbesondere im Hinblick auf ihre Geschichte : sie beruft sich auf historische Präzedenzfälle und die Lehren der Vergangenheit nicht als Legitimations instrumente, sondern um alte Fehler zu vermeiden. Die Geschichte der Regime funktioniert wie eine Methode der Erkenntnis und des politi schen Handelns. So funktioniert ein rein rhetorisches Schema wie zum Beispiel explizit in den Lehrinhalten der politischen Wissenschaften, in denen zwei extreme Positionen (Dirigismus und Liberalismus, Parlamentarismus und Faschismus, etc.) gegenübergestellt werden um sie zu überwinden und das "Niveau der Diskussion zu heben" wie eine Matrix von Redearten und universell konformen Handelns, weil es die konservative Nachhut ebenso ausschliesst wie die revolutionäre Avant-garde und so den aufgeklärten Konservatismus definiert. Die Rhetorik beinhaltet eine Politik, weil sie Geschichte beinhaltet. Aber die wichtigste Lehre der Geschichte ist es, dass man von der Geschichte nichts mehr erwarten kann : Das Universum der möglichen politischen Regime (der möglichen Herrschaftsausübung) ist erschöpft Der Fatalismus, den die Ideologie des Endes der Ideologie beinhaltet, ist die verdeckte Bedingung für einen scientistischen Gebrauch der statistischen Prognosen und der wirtschaftlichen Analyse. Die herrschende Redeart ist weder eine Wissenschaft noch ein Trugbild, sie ist eine Politik, d. h. eine Redeart, die Macht besitzt, zwar nicht wahr, aber in der Lage sich selbst zu bewahrheiten. Es genügt nicht von "herrschender Ideologie" zu sprechen, um dem Idealis mus zu entgehen. Die Analyse muss jene Wandlungen nachvollziehen, die die herrschende Redeart in einen handelnden Mechanismus verwandeln. Die herrschende Redeart begleitet eine Politik, sie ist eine Prophezeiung die zur eigenen Verwirklichung beiträgt, weil jene, die sie produzieren ein Interesse an ihrer Verwirklichung habe und die Mittel zu ihrer Verwirklichung besitzen. herrschenden Klasse den anderen Fraktionen aufzwingen will indem sie eine neue Produktionsart der Bedeart über die soziale Realität durchsetzt Der kleine hand werkliche Produzent wurde durch ein kollektives Unter- nenmen ersetzt das in einer organisierten Konfrontation Kolloquium Konimission Komitee etc. jene zusam menbringt die oft gleichzeitig relativ weit von ein ander entfernte Positionen im Felde der herrschenden Klasse besetzen Die Objektivität die diese neutralen Orte hervorbringen ergibt sich im wesentlichen aus der eklektischen Struktur der Gruppe die sie zusammenfas sen Die neutrale Redeart ist ganz natürlich jene die aus der Konfrontation von Individuen entsteht die ver schiedenen Klassenfraktionen angehören Man wohnt so eine Multiplikation von Institutionen dieses Typs bei die die Arbeit der herrschenden Klasse über sich selbst organisieren sollen die nötig ist um die kollektive berzeugung und Umorientierung zu ermögli chen Entwicklung wirtschaftlicher Forschungsinstitute die direkt der bürokratischen Nachfrage unterworfen sind oder von Meinungsforschungsinstituten Schulen der Herrschaftsausübung wie sciences po oder die Ecole nationale administration in denen die herr schende Redeart der Rationalisierung unterliegt wie es durch einen rationalisierten Unterricht bedingt ist Als echte neutrale Orte die aufgeklärte Führungspersonen und realistische Intellektuelle zusammenbringen legiti mieren diese Schulen der Herrschaftsausübung die von der Avant-garde der herrschenden Klasse hervorge brachten Denkkategorien und Handlungsmethoden Sie übermitteln den späteren Führungspersonen die von der herrschenden Klasse in den vergangenen Konflikten akkumul rte ah rung bi dor Produktion der herrschenden Redeart kann man nicht unterscheiden was zur Produktionssphäre und was zur Zirkulationssphäre gehört Die spezifischesten Kenn zeichen des Produktes also die Gesamtheit der unüber- prüften Annahmen und der kollektive Glaube an sie wer den in der und durch die Zirkulation erzeugt Die ver deckte Struktur des Produktionsfeldes macht es zu einem geschlossenen Kreislauf dem es eigen ist Selbstbestär kung und Selbstverstärkung zu bewirken Diese falsche Zirkulation erzeugt den kollektiven Glauben indem sie eine Art prophetische Kette hervorbringt in der jeder die bereits Gläubigen überzeugt die wiederum ohne die sen Eindruck zu hinterlassen andere Gläubige überzeu genThe production of the dominant ideology. This article consists of group of documents and analyses which treat single subject from different perspectives : the social philosophy predominant among those who occupy positions of power. This new "dominant ideology" is considered simultaneously as product and as mode of production. 1) The Encyclopedia of Received Opinions. Here the commonplaces current in the places of power are presented in the form of an encyclopedia or dictionary. Each entry, corresponding to one of the key words of this ideology, comprises one or several citations taken from one or another of the analyzed works which may be either individual or collective. (The corpus of works cited was established by procedure which took into account both membership of the authors in certain official institutions and the frequency of intercitations.) 2) The Royal Science and the Fatalism of the Probable. The analysis of these texts allows us to discern the principal schemes giving rise to the language spoken by the holders of power : involving the opposition between the "past" and the"future", the "blocked" and the "open", the "small" and the "great", the "immobile" and the "mobile", "stagnation" and "growth", etc. Each of these fundamental oppositions evokes, more or less directly, all the others, and the evolutionist scheme they express can be applied to everything from the crisis of winegrowers in southern France to social science research. But the most directly political consequence of this cardinal opposition becomes apparent when the new system of classification is applied to the opposition between the right and left, with the result that this fundamental opposition of the political field is declared to be "surpassed". According to this way of thinking, "socialism" and "syndicalism" are on the same side as the "immobile" and the "blocked". They are "archaisms" belonging to the "past", just like their symmetrically arranged counterparts "fascism" and "parliamentarism". The optimistic evolutionism of reconverted conservatism (variants of which can be found in the universities) is the product of the same scheme as the pessimism of openly avowed conservatism, whose hierarchy it simply inverts. Against the pessimistic philosophy of the declining sections of the bourgeoisie, the new social philosophy affirms its faith in the future and, first of all, in the future of science and technology. It sacrificies the old conservative ideologies to forward-looking ideology suited to social universe in the midst of expansion. Progressive conservatism, a seemingly contradictory combination, is supported by section of the dominant class which holds as an objective law that which in fact constitutes the objective law of its own perpetuation, namely, that one must change in order to preserve. Reconverted conservatism is distinguished from the old conservatism in that it wants the inevitable to occur. The inevitable : on the one hand, this is what among the various futures which could be realized given the current social structures conforms to the interest of the dominant class and which is helped on its way by being presented as inevitable ; on the other hand, it is what must be let go of in any case in order to avoid that which must be avoided at all cost, the subversion of the established order, a possibility which is also inscribed in the laws of historical evolution. The new group of leaders is informed, and, above all, about its history : it invokes historical precedents and the lessons of the past, not as means of legitimating itself, however, but in order to avoid previous errors. Political history functions as a method of perceiving political actions and is transformed into an intellectual scheme capable of dealing with them in their current setting. Take, for example, a purely rhetorical scheme, like the one taught explicitly at "Sciences Po" (the Institut Etudes Politiques de Paris), which opposes two extreme positions -for example dirgism and liberalism or parliamentarism and fascism- in order to surpass them by "raising the level of debate". Such scheme functions as matrix of ways of talking and of acting applicable everywhere because it reproduces the double exclusion of the conservative rear-guard and the progressive avant-garde. And it is this exclusion which constitutes the definition of enlightened conservatism. Rhetoric contains a politics because it contains a history. But history's most important lesson is the discovery that one can no longer expect anything from history : the universe of possible political regimes (modes of domination) is exhausted. The fatalism inherent in the ideology of the end of ideology is the hidden condition of scientistic use of statistical forecasting and economic analysis. Neither science nor phantasm, the language of the dominant groups is political language, that is to say, a language of great potency, which, although not true, is capable of making things come true. To escape from idealism it is not enough to speak of the "dominant ideology" ; the analysis must trace the metamorphoses which transform the language of dominance into a working tool. For this language is only the accompaniment of a politics, a self-fulfilling prophecy which contributes to its own realization because those who produce it have an interest in its truth and possess the means of making it come true. 3) Neutral Places and Commonplaces. Reconverted conservatism is the product of ideological reconversion strategies that the avant-garde of the dominant class attempts to impose on the other sections of this class by establishing a new mode of production of the dominant way of talking about the social world. The small handicraft producer has been supplanted by a collective enterprise assembling, in organized confrontations (colloquia, commissions, committees, etc.), people who occupy -often simultaneously- widely differing positions in the field of the dominant class. The illusion of objectivity produced by neutral places results essentially from the eclectic structure of the groups assembled in them. The neutral language in evidence on such occasions arises "naturally" from the confrontation of individuals belonging to different groups. There has been a marked increase in the number of institutions of this type, charged with organizing the work that the dominant class must perform upon itself in order to secure the required collective conversion and reconversion. This is the reason for the development of institutions for economic research directly subordinated to the needs of the bureaucracy, of institutes of public opinion, and of schools designed to train future leaders, where the language of the dominant class is submitted to a rationalization requiring rationalized instruction. (These two schools are roughly equivalent to, say, the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University and the Kennedy School of Public Administration at Harvard University, and, to a lesser degree, to the London School of Economics). Veritable neutral places bringing together enlightened leaders and realistic intellectuals, such schools legi-timate the thought categories and ways of acting developed by advanced sections of the dominant class. They transmit to future leaders the experience accumulated by the dominant class in the course of historical conflicts. In the production of the language of the dominant groups, it is impossible to distinguish what pertains to production from what pertains to circulation : the most specifie properties of the product, namely the ensemble of unexamined presuppositions and the collective belief accorded them, are produced in and through the circulation process. The hidden structure of the field of production makes it the site of a circular circulation capable of generating a certain self-confirmation and self-reinforcement. This false circulation engenders collective belief by establishing a sort of prophetie chain in which each one preaches to the converted, who in turn will preach, without seeming to do so, to others who are also already converted. The optimistic evolutionism of reconverted conservatism variants of which can be found in the universities is the product of the same scheme as the pessimism of openly avowed conservatism whose hierarchy it simply inverts Against the pessimistic philosophy of the declining sections of the bourgeoisie the new social philosophy affirms its faith in the future and first of all in the future of science and technology It sacrificies the old conservative ideologies to forward- looking ideology suited to social universe in the midst of expansion Progressive conservatism seemingly contradictory combination is supported by section of the dominant class which holds as an objective law that which in fact constitutes the objective law of its own perpetuation namely that one must change in order to preserve Reconverted conservatism is distinguished from the old conservatism in that it wants the inevitable to occur The inevitable on the one hand this is what among the various futures which could be realized given the current social structures conforms to the interest of the dominant class and which is helped on its way by being presen ted as inevitable on the other hand it is what must be let go of in any case in order to avoid that which must be avoided at all cost the subversion of the established order possibility which is also inscribed in the laws of historical evolution The new group of leaders is informed and above all about its history it invokes historical precedents and the lessons of the past not as means of legitimating itself however but in order to avoid previous errors Political history functions as method of perceiving political actions and is transformed into an intellectual scheme capable of dealing with them in their current setting Take for example purely rhetorical scheme like the one taught explicitly at Sciences Po the Institut Etudes Politiques de Paris) which opposes two extreme positions -for example diri isin and liberalism or parliamentarism and fascism- in order to surpass them by raising the level of debate Such scheme functions as matrix of ways of talking and of acting applicable everywhere because it reproduces the double exclusion of the conservative rear-guard and the progressive avant-garde And it is this exclusion which constitutes the definition of enlightened conservatism Rhetoric contains politics because it contains history But most important lesson is the discovery that one can no longer expect anything from history the universe of possible poli tical regimes modes of domination is exhausted The fatalism inherent in the ideology of the end of ideology is the hidden condition of scientistic use of statisti cal forecasting and economic analysis Neither science nor phantasm the language of the dominant groups is political language that is to say language of great potency which although not true is capable of making things come true To escape from idealism it is not enough to speak of the dominant ideology the analysis must trace the metamorphoses which transform the language of dominance into a working tool. For this language is only the accompaniment of a politics, a self-fulfilling prophecy which contributes to its own realization because those who produce it have an interest in its truth and possess the means of making it come true. 3) Neutral Places and Commonplaces. Reconverted conservatism is the product of ideological reconversion strategies that the avant-garde of the dominant class attempts to impose on the other sections of this class by establishing a new mode of production of the dominant way of talking about the social world. The small handicraft producer has been supplanted by a collective enterprise assembling, in organized confrontations (colloquia, commissions, committees, etc.), people who occupy -often simultaneously- widely differing positions in the field of the dominant class. The illusion of objectivity produced by neutral places results essentially from the eclectic structure of the groups assembled in them. The neutral language in evidence on such occasions arises "naturally" from the confrontation of individuals belonging to different groups. There has been a marked increase in the number of institutions of this type, charged with organizing the work that the dominant class must perform upon itself in order to secure the required collective conversion and reconversion. This is the reason for the development of institutions for economic research directly subordinated to the needs of the bureaucracy, of institutes of public opinion, and of schools designed to train future leaders, where the language of the dominant class is submitted to a rationalization requiring rationalized instruction. (These two schools are roughly equivalent to, say, the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University and the Kennedy School of Public Administration at Harvard University, and, to a lesser degree, to the London School of Economics). Veritable neutral places bringing together enlightened leaders and realistic intellectuals, such schools legi-timate the thought categories and ways of acting developed by advanced sections of the dominant class. They transmit to future leaders the experience accumulated by the dominant class in the course of historical conflicts. In the production of the language of the dominant groups, it is impossible to distinguish what pertains to production from what pertains to circulation : the most specifie properties of the product, namely the ensemble of unexamined presuppositions and the collective belief accorded them, are produced in and through the circulation process. The hidden structure of the field of production makes it the site of a circular circulation capable of generating a certain self-confirmation and self-reinforcement. This false circulation engenders collective belief by establishing a sort of prophetie chain in which e