The Ideology of the Aesthetic and Global Class Relations:An Interview with Professor Zhou Xiaoyi
In this interview,Professor Zhou Xiaoyi elucidates the collusion between the aesthetic and capital,arguing that,in the current stage of financial capitalism,the aesthetic covertly enables capital to extract surplus value through alluring fantasies that obscure global class conflicts.After reviewing and comparing the developmental trajectories of consumer culture studies in China and the West,he reflects on the limitations of traditional humanistic perspectives on aesthetics and probes into the social issues surrounding the aesthetic from a critical and negative lens.He summarizes important views and contributions made by Jameson and other Western Marxist theorists in terms of their studies on the ideology of the aesthetic,highlighting Western scholars'neglect of global class issues.Grounding his analysis in the conditions of China and local experiences,Professor Zhou uses the phrase"sweet violence"to encapsulate the mechanism of wealth transfer achieved through Western cultural hegemony-the aesthetic makes unequal transactions appear highly appealing,coaxing consumers to pay the economic price with the allure of aesthetic enjoyment.Finally,he emphasizes that the aesthetic constitutes social relations,urging us to be concerned about the inherent connections between the aesthetic and capital,in order to re-evaluate global class relations.
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