Could commodities themselves speak? An introduction to the agnotology of the spectacle
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4475920 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Andrew S Murray (0000-0001-5559-1862, Open University, UK), Andrew Murray (0000-0002-3625-9140, Royal Holloway University of London), A Bradshaw (0000-0003-0648-4459, University of London, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 42 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 275-293 |
| Publication date | 2024-04-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Environment and Planning D Society and Space (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0263-7758 • E-ISSN: 1472-3433 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/02637758241227243 |
| OpenAlex | W4392193948 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 21 |
This article introduces the 'agnotology of spectacle'. While agnotology is a relatively recent term used to describe the production and use of ignorance, we argue that Debord's Comments on the Society of the Spectacle (1992) is an early attempt to outline a global field of disinformation and secrecy. For Debord, such secrecy is required to maintain the political and moral authority of what he defined as 'spectacle', namely the images used by states and corporations to mediate relations of power with consumers and citizens. We consider how the spectacle creates fields of disinformation and secrecy to maintain its political and moral authority by examining notes in commodities that purport to be calls for help from coerced labourers in China. These notes allow us to assess the uncanny experience of consuming goods manufactured across global supply chains which may well comprise of serious labour exploitation. However, these sources also demand a more expansive agnotology than that provided by Debord: one that engages with labour processes, contracts and race. We therefore develop Debord's ideas by examining the work of Mills and Benaji. Finally, drawing on Brecht's concept of the 'estrangement effect', we discuss how exploited workers can co-opt the aesthetics of the uncanny to articulate their subject position within a global agnotological field
Aesthetics · Art · Disinformation · Ignorance · Law and economics · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Secrecy · Social media · Sociology · Spectacle · Uncanny · Law · Marxism and Critical Theory · Political Economy and Marxism · Psychoanalysis, Philosophy, and Politics
The Unknowers
Commodity Fetishism and Repression
Modern Slavery
Speculation as a Mode of Production
What Is Disinformation
Post-Truth
Spaces of Global Capitalism
Geographies of dissociation
Secrecy, publicity and the milieu of security
From Being to Unrest, from Objectivity to Motion
Supply Chains and the Human Condition
Public Secrecy and Immanent Security
The Racial Contract
Hiding in the Spotlight
Make-Believe
Following the (unfollowable) thing
After the Foxconn Suicides in China
Reification, Reanimation, and the American Uncanny
| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1.5 |
| Citation span | 2024 - 2026 (3) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |