A few weeks before his sudden death, Felix Guattari sent the following text to Le Monde Diplomatique. This ambitious, comprehensively reflective series has, in a sense, the character of a philosophical testament or testament, thanks to the additional weight brought by the author's tragic disappearance.
"Reshaping Social Practice"
"Remaking Social Practices"
Felix Guattari (1930-1992)
The routine of daily life and the banality of the world presented by the media surround us with a reassuring atmosphere in which nothing has real meaning or value. We close our eyes; we forbid ourselves from thinking about the turbulent course of our time, which quickly leaves the familiar past behind, erases those things that are still fresh in our memory about the way of existence and life, and pictures the future onto an opaque horizon shrouded in thick clouds and poisonous miasma.
We need that "unguaranteed" sense of security more and more. In the past, two "superpowers" that had supported each other for a long time are now in turmoil due to the disintegration of one of them; the former Soviet Union and Eastern European countries were involved in a seemingly fruitless drama; the United States itself was not immune to the violent subversion of civilization (the Los Angeles Incident). Countries in the Third World are unable to escape stagnation; Africa is particularly trapped in a terrible impasse. Like many threats, ecological disaster, famine, unemployment, racism and xenophobia are all urging the end of this millennium. At the same time, science and technology are developing at an extremely fast speed, providing mankind with almost all the means needed to solve material problems. But humanity has not seized these opportunities; it remains bewildered and powerless in the face of challenges. It participates passively in the processes of water and air pollution, forest destruction, climate disturbance, mass extinction of organisms, impoverishment of the genetic capital of the biosphere, destruction of natural landscapes, urban suffocation and the progressive desolation of cultural values and moral frames of reference such as human solidarity and fraternity... It seems to have lost its mind, or rather, its mind no longer functions together with the body. In a modern society that is too complex to handle, how do you find the compass to reorient yourself?
To understand this complexity, abandon the reductive approach of scientism, especially when its biases and short-term interests need to be questioned: this is the perspective necessary to enter what I call the "post-media" era. Because all major contemporary upheavals, whether positive or negative, are judged on the basis of information filtered through the mass media industry. The industry only retains descriptions of events (small events), never explores the issues involved, and never presents them in their entirety.
Indeed, it is difficult for individuals to escape their own limitations, detach themselves from immediate concerns and reflect on the world as it is and will be in the future. They lack collective incentives to do so. Most of the old ways of communicating, thinking, and talking have disappeared, replaced by a sense of individualism and loneliness that is often synonymous with anxiety and neurosis. Therefore, under the new combination of environmental ecology, social ecology and psychological ecology, I advocate the creation of new collective expression organizations about couples, families, schools, neighborhoods, etc. The way current *mass media*, especially television, operates is contrary to this view. The television viewer remains passive in front of the screen, trapped in a quasi-hypnotic relationship, isolated from others and bereft of any sense of responsibility.
However, this won't continue indefinitely. Technological advances will introduce new possibilities for interactions between media and users, and between users. The combination of audio-visual screens, telecom screens, and computer screens could lead to a true reactivation of collective sentience and intelligence. The current equation (media = passive) may be disappearing sooner than people think. Obviously, we cannot expect miracles from these technologies: ultimately everything depends on the ability of groups to master them and apply them to appropriate goals.
Large economic markets and homogeneous political spaces, as seen in European and Western trends, will also have an impact on our worldview. But these factors move in opposite directions, and the outcome depends on the evolution of power relations between social groups that remain unclear. As industrial and economic hostilities between the United States, Japan and Europe intensify, reductions in "market share", reductions in production costs and increases in productivity will become increasingly important, thereby increasing structural unemployment and leading to an increasingly pronounced "dualization" of society within the citadel of capitalism. Not to mention their break with the Third World, which will take a more conflictual and dramatic turn due to population growth.
On the other hand, the strengthening of the positions of those powerful camps will undoubtedly lead to the re-establishment of geopolitical and ecological order - if not a "global order", then a geopolitical or ecological order. By supporting the concentration of resources on research goals or eco-humanitarian initiatives, and promoting the existence of these camps may play a vital role in the future of humanity. But at the same time, it is immoral and unrealistic to accept that the current quasi-Manichean antagonism between rich and poor, strong and weak will increase without limit. Regrettably, the signatories of the so-called Heidelberg Call presented at the Rio Conference have undoubtedly themselves been implicated in the suggestion that basic human choices in the ecological field are dominated by a group of scientific elites. This stems from incredible technological myopia. How, in fact, can one see that an important part of the problem of planetary ecology arises from the rupture of collective subjectivity between haves and have-nots? Scientists must find their place within the new international democratic system and contribute to its development. And this is not to propel them down this road to the mythical belief that they are omnipotent and omniscient!
How do we reconnect the head and body, how do we combine science and technology with human values? How do we reach agreement on a common project while respecting the uniqueness of individual positions? How can we spark a mass awakening, a new renaissance in the current negative climate? Is fear of disaster enough to inspire action? Ecological accidents, such as Chernobyl, have certainly captured the attention of public opinion. But it's not just about threats; it's also about moving towards real results. People also need to be reminded that danger itself can create an attraction. Premonitions of disaster may unleash an unconscious desire for destruction, for nothingness, for abolition. It is thus that during the Nazi era, the German public was immersed in apocalyptic fantasies and associated them with the mythical salvation of humanity.
This begins with an emphasis on rebuilding a collective dialogue that can generate innovative practices. Without changes in the way of thinking and without entering the post-media era, we cannot have a lasting grasp of the environment. However, until the social and physical environment changes, the way of thinking will not change either. Here we are faced with a circular problem, which leads me to propose that it is necessary to establish an "ecological philosophy" that links environmental ecology with social ecology and psychological ecology.
From this "ecological philosophy" perspective, there is no question of reconstructing a hegemonic ideology, like the major religions or Marxism. For example, it is absurd for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank to advocate the universalization of the only growth model in the Third World. Africa, Latin America and Asia must be able to pursue specific socio-cultural development paths.
The world market does not have to lead the production of every nation in the name of the concept of general growth. Capitalist growth is merely quantitative, whereas complex development is fundamentally concerned with quality. In the future, human activities and their fundamental goals will be dominated by neither the state (such as bureaucratic socialism) nor the world market (dominated by neoliberal ideology). It is therefore necessary to create a global dialogue and promote a new ethics of difference that can serve as an alternative to current capitalist power and to develop policies based on the aspirations of the people. But will this lead to confusion? As the current crisis proves, democratic chaos is, on the whole, better than the chaos caused by authoritarianism!
Individuals and groups cannot avoid falling into some kind of existential chaos. This is what we do every night when we surrender ourselves to the world of dreams. The most important question is to know what we gain from this dive: a sense of catastrophe or the revelation of new contours of possibility? Who controls capitalist chaos today? Stock markets, multinational corporations and to a lesser extent state power! Most are organizations that are out of touch with thinking! The existence of world markets is indeed crucial to the construction of international economic relations. But we cannot expect this market to miraculously regulate human communication on this planet. The real estate market has led to urban chaos, and the art market has distorted aesthetic creation. Therefore, it is crucial to emerge, outside of capitalist markets, territorialized markets that rely on mass formation to support and affirm the ways in which they add value. From the chaos of capitalism must emerge what I call "attractor" values: values of diversity, heterogeneity and dissensuelle.
Marxists base historical movement on the inevitable dialectical progression of class struggle. Liberal economists blindly place their trust in free markets to resolve tensions and differences and achieve the best possible world. However, events confirmed, if necessary, that progress is neither mechanically nor dialectically related to class struggle, scientific and technological development, economic growth or the free play of the market...Growth does not equate to progress, as the antagonisms between barbaric resurgent societies and cities, inter-ethnic conflicts and global economic tensions all cruelly reveal this truth.
Moral progress in society is inseparable from the collective and individual practices that advance it. Nazism and fascism did not disappear as a result of a brief illness or the overcoming of historical accidents. They constitute an ever-present potential; they continue to exist in our virtual world; the Stalinist, LDS-style authoritarian rule of the Soviet labor camp system can continue to emerge tomorrow in new circumstances. Micro-fascism is spreading across our society in various forms such as racism, xenophobia, the rise of religious fundamentalism, militarism and the oppression of women. History does not guarantee that the "threshold of progress" will be irreversibly crossed. Only human practice, collective voluntarism, can prevent us from slipping into worse barbarism. In this regard, we will together fantasize about leaving it behind, defending "rights of man" or "rights of peoples" with a sense of self-righteousness. Rights are not guaranteed by divine authority; they depend on the vitality of the institutions and forces that sustain their existence.
A basic condition necessary for the promotion of a new global consciousness is that we collectively rebuild our value systems and break away from the moral, psychological and social stratification brought about by the stabilization of capitalist valorization, which only focuses on economic profit. Joy of life, solidarity and compassion for others are disappearing emotions that must be protected, stimulated and led in new directions. Ethical aesthetic value does not come from commands and transcendent rules, but requires existential engagement based on immanence, and this immanence must be constantly reoccupied. How do we create or expand such a universe of values? Of course, moral education cannot be abandoned.
The revelatory power of information theory obscures the importance of the representational dimension of communication. It makes us forget that a message must be received, not merely transmitted, to have meaning. Information cannot simply be reduced to an objective manifestation; in fact it is the production of subjectivity, the invisible universe of change-consistency. The latter is absolutely not reducible to calculations based on binary choices and analysis of impossibilities. Informational truth refers to existential events that occur to those who receive them, and is recorded not with factual accuracy but with the meaning of the matter and its coherence with respect to cosmic values. The current crisis in the media and the beginning of the post-media era are symptoms of a more profound crisis.
What I want to emphasize is the fundamentally plural, polycentric and heterogeneous character of contemporary subjectivity, despite its assimilation by mass media. In this respect, an individual is already a "collection" of heterogeneous components. Subjective phenomena involve the personal sphere-the body, the self-but also the collective sphere-the family, the community, the ethnic group. To this must be added all the processes of subjectivation contained in speech, writing, calculation, and technical machines.
In precapitalist societies, enlightenment about the affairs of life and the mysteries of the world was transmitted through family relationships, peer relationships, clan relationships, guild rituals, and so on. This type of direct communication is increasingly rare. Subjectivity is shaped through multiple interventions, while the relationships between individuals are increasingly diminished. For example, the role of grandparents as a cross-generational memory support for children often disappears. Children grow up in the shadow of television, computer games, communication devices and comic books...A new kind of mechanical loneliness is taking shape, not without value, but it should be constantly reformulated to conform to newer forms of social needs. Rather than establishing adversarial relationships, we should establish multi-vocal intertwined relationships between individuals and society. Therefore, a body of music still needs to be created.
A new global consciousness will have to rethink mechanism. We often pit machines against the human spirit. Some philosophies believe that modern technology blocks our access to our ontological basis, our original being. If we look at it the other way around, could a renaissance of spirituality and human values be accompanied by a new alliance with machines?
Biologists now relate life to new mechanistic approaches involving cells and living organs; linguists, mathematicians, and sociologists explore other forms of mechanism. By broadening the concept of machines, we are led to emphasize some hitherto underexplored aspects. Machines are not closed to their own integrity; they maintain a definite relationship with the outside of time and space, as well as with the symbolic world and the virtual realm. The relationship between the inside and the outside of a mechanical system is not only the energy consumption and the production of goods: it is also expressed in the genetic genealogy. A machine emerges in the present like the finished product of a past genetic lineage, a point of restart or rupture from which an evolutionary lineage will stretch into the future. The emergence of these genealogies and variant parts is very complex. All sciences, artistic creativity, and social innovations are constantly driving its development and constitute the abstract and mechanical "technosphere" surrounding our biosphere - not as an outer armor to restrain human beings, but as an abstract, mechanism-like state of prosperity that explores the future of mankind.
For example, human life is in a race against the HIV retrovirus. Bioscience and medical technology will prevail over this disease, or it will ultimately lead to the demise of the human race. Likewise, intelligence and sensibility have been radically mutated as new computer technologies penetrate more and more deeply into the impulses of sensibility, behavior, and intelligence. We are currently witnessing a mutation of subjectivity that may surpass the invention of writing or printing in importance.
Humanity must marry between reason and emotion with the multiple branches of mechanism, or risk falling into chaos. The renewal of democracy could aim at managing pluralism in its mechanical components. In this way, judiciary and legislation will be brought to establish new links with the fields of technology and research (this is already the case with ethics committees investigating questions of biology and modern medicine; but we must also quickly create ethics committees for the media, urban planning, education). In conclusion, it is necessary to redraw the real existing entities of our time, which no longer correspond to those that still existed a few decades ago. The personal, the social, and the machine overlap-as do justice, ethics, aesthetics, and politics. There is a major shift in goals: values such as "resingularization", ecological responsibility, and machine creativity can become the central point that replaces the old left-right dualism as a new pole of progress.
The production machines that make up the infrastructure of the global economy are aligned only with so-called leading industries. They fail to consider that other divisions are lagging behind the overall due to their inability to generate capital profits. Mechanical democracy will have to rebalance the values of the current system. Producing a city that is clean, livable, vibrant, and extremely social; developing humane and effective health care and rich education are goals as valuable as an automobile production line or high-performance electronic equipment.
Current machines - technology, science, society - are potentially capable of providing food, clothing, transportation and education for all: the means are already there to support the lives of the planet's 10 billion inhabitants. The only drawback is the incentive system for making goods and distributing them equitably. Dedicated to the development of material and moral well-being, work in social and psychological ecology should be regarded as equally valuable as work in the leadership sector or financial speculation.
The nature of work has changed due to the increasingly immaterial aspects of its composition: knowledge, desire, aesthetic taste and ecological concerns. Human physical and mental activities are increasingly adjacent to technology, computers and communication devices. In this respect, the old Fordist or Taylorist ideas about the organization and ergonomics of industrial sites were superseded. In the future, there will be an increasing need to call upon individual and collective creativity to produce, distribute (and even consume) at all stages. New labor landscapes-particularly robotics-will challenge old hierarchical structures and, as a result, require revisions to current wage standards.
Given the agricultural crisis in developed countries, opening up agricultural markets brings legitimacy to Third World countries, where climatic conditions and productivity tend to be more favorable than in northern regions. But does this mean that American, European and Japanese farmers must abandon the countryside and migrate to cities? Instead, agriculture and animal husbandry need to be redefined in these countries to fully exploit their ecological value and protect the environment. Forests, mountains, rivers, coastlines all constitute a kind of non-capitalist capital, a quality investment that should be rewarded and must be constantly reassessed, which means a radical rethinking of the status of farmers and fishermen.
The same applies to domestic labor: women and men who have the responsibility of raising children (a task that is becoming increasingly complex) need to be paid appropriately. Overall, many "private" activities are thus called upon to take their place in new systems of economic value-added, taking into account the diversity and heterogeneity of socially, aesthetically or morally useful human activities.
This perspective on the social and cultural reorganization of labor in order to enable the expansion of labor classes would naturally lead to the promotion of new transversalities in productive assemblages and other communities. To begin, including those social activities that should be taken seriously, economists may need to imagine a way to update the existing monetary system and wage system. For example, the coexistence of a strong currency with a protected, non-convertible and locally administered currency within a specific social space would allow extreme poverty to be alleviated, both through the distribution of goods sourced exclusively from the internal market and by facilitating the unfolding of a variety of social activities (which thus lose their ostensibly marginal character).
Such revisions to the division of labor and valuation would not necessarily mean an indefinite reduction in weekly working hours or an earlier retirement age. Of course, mechanization tends to free up more "free time." But for what? Throw in pre-made entertainment? Addicted to TV shows? How many retirees have fallen into despair and depression within a few months of their new situation? The paradox is that when ecological philosophy redefines labor it may simultaneously increase the time it takes to get paid. This would mean a clever distinction between work time required by the economic market and time involved in the economy of social and spiritual value. For example, it is conceivable to regulate retirement systems to allow participation by workers, employees and managers who wish not to be isolated from corporate activities (particularly those of social and cultural significance). Isn't it absurd that they have the best knowledge in their field and can provide the best service in training and research, but is it not absurd? This perspective on restructuring labor society and culture leads naturally to the promotion of new transversities in production assemblages and other communities.
Some union experiments are already moving in this direction. In Chile, for example, there are new trade union practices that are organically integrated with the social environment. Activists in "territorial unionization" focused not only on defending workers protected by unions, but also on the difficulties experienced by the unemployed, women, and children in the communities where the companies were located. They are involved in organizing educational and cultural projects and are involved in issues of health, sanitation, ecology and urban planning. (This broadening of workers' abilities and spheres of action was far from being readily embraced by hierarchical forces in the union system.) In the country, the "ecology of retirement" group works to organize the cultural and interpersonal aspects of older people.
The transformation of the old reference systems based on the left-right opposition, socialism-capitalism, market economy-planned economy, etc. is difficult, but absolutely necessary... It is not about creating a "centrist" pole of reference, equally far from the other two, but about moving away from this type of system based on full support, on so-called scientific foundations or on transcendent legal and ethical principles. Public opinion is more repulsive than the political class to programmatic speeches and dogmatism intolerant of diverse viewpoints. But as long as modes of public debate and discussion do not acquire newer forms of expression, there is a significant risk of moving further and further away from democratic movements and towards the abandonment of the right to vote or the actions of reactionary activists. This means that in political campaigns, the important thing is not to win broad popular support for an idea, but to see public opinion structured into diverse and vibrant social groups. Reality is no longer singular and indivisible. It is multiplicity and marks the thread of possibility to which human practice can seize. In addition to energy, information and new materials, "choice" and the willingness to "take risks" are also at the core when experimenting with new mechanizations in technical, social, theoretical or aesthetic aspects.
The "eco-philosophical map" that must be built will have its own specificity, taking into account not only current dimensions, but also the future. They will be as concerned about human life in thirty years on earth as they are about public transportation in three years. They imply responsibility for future generations, what the philosopher Hans Jonas called an "ethic of responsibility." There is bound to be a conflict between long-term choices and short-term interests. Social groups affected by such problems must think about and change their habits and mental coordinate systems, adopt new values, and come up with human meanings for future technological transformations. In short, negotiate in the name of the future in the present.
But this is not a return to the historical totalitarian and authoritarian perspective, dogmatic ideas such as ruling everyone's life in the name of "heaven" or ecological balance. Each "map" represents a specific worldview, which always contains uncertainties even if it is accepted by a large number of people. In fact, this is the most precious capital; based on this, a mechanism can be established to truly listen to the voices of others: to listen to the voices of difference, uniqueness, marginalization and even madness, not only out of the need for tolerance and brotherhood. It constitutes a necessary preparation, a permanent call for the order of uncertainty, to detach from the forces of chaos that are always entangled with structures that dominate, are self-sufficient and believe in their own superiority. Such a listening mechanism might overturn or rehabilitate the orientation of these structures, opening up new creative streams through their reinvigoration or deployment, making them full of potential again.
In this case, a light of meaning must be discovered that penetrates my impatience to get others to accept my point of view and my unkind desire to bend others to conform to my wishes. Not only must I accept this adversity, I must love it for its own sake: I must seek it out, communicate with it, explore it deeply, and increase it. This would free me from narcissistic, bureaucratic blindness and restore to me the sense of finitude that all infantilized subjectivity seeks to hide.
Ecological democracy will not give up the convenience of reaching consensus agreements: instead, it will invest in dissensual metamodelization. Through ecological democracy, responsibility is passed from oneself to others.
Without the promotion of this individualism of difference, atypicality and utopianism, it is possible in our time to fall into terrible identity conflicts like the one the people of the former Yugoslavia are suffering from. Appeals to morality and respect for rights are futile. Individualism disappears into the void of profit and power. Rejecting the current status of media and seeking new social interactions, institutional creativity and value enrichment is already a big step on the road to reshaping social practice.
Sophie Thomas French to English
He Fa English to Chinese
Rereading Guattari's last writing - "Reshaping Social Practice" 30 years later, I was filled with emotions. I was born in 1990 and have experienced reform and opening up, global economy, the establishment of the European Union, the Internet wave, the subprime mortgage crisis, the popularity of smartphones, smog, the Sino-US trade war, the rise of artificial intelligence, the outbreak of the global epidemic, the Russia-Ukraine war, etc. Have we changed for the better? How are we preparing for the future described in the article? Has the desire for capital appreciation diminished? How have the relationships between people changed during these crises and opportunities?
Since 2015, P4 Theater has been established for eight years, and it has been constantly speaking out and trying to change something. We always firmly believe that drama is the first step in rebuilding relationships between people. We also firmly believe that fiction can regain our lost reality. The love between people can penetrate arrogant narcissism and false pretense, allowing each other to hear, see, and gain insights, and connect each other with a new resonance. Therefore, reshaping social practice should never be just a slogan, but a real action. Let us work together to fight for our future!
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