Abstract
We argue that the gap between an authentically ethical conviction of sustainability and a behaviour that avoids confronting the terrifying reality of its ethical point of reference is characteristic of the field of business sustainability. We do not accuse the field of business sustainability of ethical shortcomings on the account of this attitude–behaviour gap. If anything, we claim the opposite, namely that there resides an ethical sincerity in the convictions of business scholars to entrust capitalism and capitalists with the mammoth task of reversing, the terrifying reality of ecological devastation. Yet, the very illusory nature of this belief in capitalism’s captains to save us from the environmentally devastating effects of capitalism gives this ethical stance a tragic beauty. While sincere and authentic, it nevertheless is an ethical stance that relies on an “exclusionary gesture of refusing to see” (Žižek, in Violence, 2008, p. 52), what in psychoanalysis is referred to as a fetishist disavowal of reality. We submit that this disavowal is fetishistic because the act is not simply one of repressing the real. If it was, we would rightly expect that we could all see the truth if we only provide more or better information to fill the subject’s lack of knowledge. The problem is that the fetishist transfers a fantasy of the real as the real. In the case of destructive capitalism, the fetishist disavows that particular reality by believing in another, thus subjectively negating the lack (or gap). Therefore, from the perspective of psychoanalytic theory, we submit that the gap between attitude and behaviour is best understood not only as an ethical flaw, but also as an essential component of an ethics that makes possible the field of business sustainability.
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Notes
See for example United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs’ reports such as this one entitled: Innovation for Sustainable Development: Local Case Studies from Africa or consult the “knowledge center” of the Network of Business Sustainability website, hosted by Richard Ivey School of Business, University of Western Ontario, where reports are available such as one entitled Innovating for Sustainability, which is brimming with case studies of companies that address each in their own way some environmental issue.
There are truly too many too list, from the World Bank to the IMF to NASA to the Koch-Brothers funded “Berkley Earth” study and many more. Worth singling out, perhaps, is a 2011 International Energy Agency report that as Harvey (2011) points out showed 2010 as the worst year for greenhouse gas emissions yet, despite recession and despite all that well-intentioned effort by companies to reduce their carbon footprint. The agency has concluded that the 2° Celsius target for global warming, which is the upper limit of warming considered safe for the planet, will almost certainly be unachievable unless massive changes are made immediately to our economic and energy systems. In the face of such overwhelming evidence that the current economico-political system has failed utterly to contain let alone reverse Co2 output and halt global warming, it is hard to imagine that capital’s ongoing and future sustainability efforts will do just that.
Indeed Melancholia was so often suggested to us as a more appropriate film for analysis by reviewers and seminar audiences that an explicit response is required. Notwithstanding the above justification for maintaining a focus on ‘banal’ blockbusters, we also remain unconvinced that Melancholia really does posit a more credible alternative. For example we note that Guardian critic Peter Bradshaw described the film as “entirely ridiculous, often quite boring, with a script showing worrying signs of being cobbled together” and synopsises the film as follows, “A big CGI planet is threatening to wipe out the world—if only it would hurry up and end Lars von Trier's clunky, tiresome film” (Bradshaw 2011). Meanwhile Observer critic Philip French writes: “the movie is heavy, though without weight or gravitas — a solipsistic, narcissistic, inhuman affair” (French 2011). All things considered, we prefer the honesty of our blockbusters.
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Bradshaw, A., Zwick, D. The Field of Business Sustainability and the Death Drive: A Radical Intervention. J Bus Ethics 136, 267–279 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-014-2443-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-014-2443-x