From Bloch’s utopian surplus to Žižek’s fantasmatic spectre: Re-evaluating the interplay of utopia and ideology

Abstract

ABSTRACTEver since a correlation between ideology and utopia has been suggested by pioneering thinkers such as Karl Mannheim and Ernst Bloch, this correlation has come under sharp criticism. This is unsurprising, given that ideology and utopia are conceptualized as opposing but at the same time complementary forces. Due to this paradoxical relationship, a conceptual framework based on the interplay of utopia and ideology has frequently been dismissed as unworkable. It is the purpose of this article to re-examine the conceptual integrity of the utopia‐ideology correlation and to provide fresh pointers for the construction of a methodologically sound framework based on their interplay. To do so, the article re-evaluates Karl Mannheim’s influential theorization of the utopia‐ideology relationship, and then turns to Ernst Bloch’s pivotal concept of the utopian surplus. Introducing an analogy from Bloch’s work that enables a deeper understanding of the utopia‐ideology correlation, the article then focuses on Slavoj Žižek’s notion of the fantasmatic spectre to show how ideology and utopia interact with each other, thereby opening up new avenues for an ideology-critique based on the interplay of utopia and ideology.