Renata Salecl: Our unhealthy obsession with choice

Translator: Judit Piñol (Amara Staff) Reviewer: Katia De Juan Bayona

When I was preparing for this talk,

Quan m'estava preparant per aquesta xerrada,

I went to search for a couple of quotes

vaig anar a buscar un parell de frases

that I can share with you.

per poder compartir-les amb vosaltres.

Good news: I found three

Bones notícies: en vaig trobar tres

that I particularly liked,

que em van agradar particularment,

the first by Samuel Johnson, who said,

la primera de Samuel Johnson, que va dir,

"When making your choice in life,

"Quan facis la teva tria en la vida,

do not forget to live,"

no t'oblidis de viure",

the second by Aeschylus, who reminded us that

la segona de Aeschylus, que ens recorda que

"happiness is a choice that requires effort,"

"la felicitat és una opció que requereix esforç,"

and the third is one by Groucho Marx

i la tercera és de Grouxo Marx

who said, "I wouldn't want to choose to belong

que va dir, "No escolliria ser part de cap club

to any club that would have me as a member."

que em tingués a mi de membre."

Now, bad news:

Ara, males notícies:

I didn't know which one of these quotes

no sabia quina d'aquestes frases escollir

to choose and share with you.

per compartir amb vosaltres.

The sweet anxiety of choice.

La dolça ansietat de l'elecció.

In today's times of post-industrial capitalism,

En els temps de capitalisme post industrial d'avui dia,

choice, together with individual freedom

la capacitat d'escollir, juntament amb la llibertat individual

and the idea of self-making,

i la idea de fer-se a un mateix,

has been elevated to an ideal.

han estat elevades a un ideal.

Now, together with this, we also have a belief

I amb tot això, també creiem

in endless progress.

en el progrés inesgotable.

But the underside of this ideology

Però per sota d'aquesta ideologia

has been an increase of anxiety,

hi ha hagut un augment d'ansietat,

feelings of guilt,

de sentiments de culpa,

feelings of being inadequate,

de sentiments d'insuficiència,

feeling that we are failing in our choices.

i del sentir que estem fallant en allò que hem escollit.

Sadly, this ideology of individual choice

Malauradament, aquesta ideologia d'escollir individualment

has prevented us from thinking about social changes.

ens ha estat impedint de pensar en canvis socials.

It appears that this ideology was actually

Sembla que aquesta ideologia ha estat, de fet,

very efficient in pacifying us

molt eficient per assossegar-nos

as political and social thinkers.

com a pensadors polítics i socials.

Instead of making social critiques,

En comptes de fer crítiques socials,

we are more and more engaging in self-critique,

ens dediquem més i més a fer autocrítica,

sometimes to the point of self-destruction.

a vegades arribant a l'autodestrucció.

Now, how come that ideology of choice

Ara bé, com és que aquesta ideologia de l'escollir

is still so powerful,

és encara tan forta,

even among people who have

fins i tot entre la gent que no té

not many things to choose among?

tantes coses sobre les que escollir?

How come that even people who are poor

Com és que fins i tot la gent pobre

very much still identify with the idea of choice,

encara s'identifica amb la idea d'escollir,

the kind of rational idea of choice

el tipus d'idea racional d'escollir,

which we embrace?

que nosaltres acceptem?

Now, the ideology of choice is very successful

La ideologia de l'escollir és molt bona

in opening for us a space to think

quan es tracta d'obrir-nos espai per pensar

about some imagined future.

en un futur imaginat.

Let me give you an example.

Us posaré un exemple.

My friend Manya,

La meva amiga Manya,

when she was a student at university in California,

quan estudiava a la universitat de Califòrnia,

was earning money

es guanyava el sou

by working for a car dealer.

treballant per a un comerciant d'automòbils.

Now, Manya, when she encountered

I quan la Manya es trobava

the typical customer, would debate with him

amb el típic client, debatien

about his lifestyle,

sobre el seu estil de vida,

how much he wants to spend,

quant es vol gastar,

how many children he has,

quants fills té,

what does he need the car for?

per a què necessita el cotxe?

They would usually come to a good conclusion

Normalment arribarien a una bona conclusió

what would be a perfect car.

sobre quin seria el cotxe perfecte.

Now, before Manya's customer would go home

Però abans que el client de la Manya s'en anés a casa

and think things through,

i pensés les coses,

she would say to him,

ella els deia,

"The car that you are buying now is perfect,

"El cotxe que ara compres és perfecte,

but in a few year's time,

però d'aquí a uns anys,

when your kids will be already out of the house,

quan els teus fills se'n vagin de casa,

when you will have a little bit more money,

quan tinguis una mica més diners,

that other car will be ideal.

aquell altre cotxe serà l'ideal.

But what you are buying now is great."

Però el que estàs comprant ara està molt bé."

Now, the majority of Manya's customers

I bé, la majoria dels clients de la Manya

who came back the next day

que tornaven el dia següent

bought that other car,

compraven l'altre cotxe,

the car they did not need,

el cotxe que no necessitaven,

the car that cost far too much money.

el cotxe que costa molts més diners.

Now, Manya became so successful in selling cars

La Manya va tenir tant èxit venent cotxes

that soon she moved on to selling airplanes.

que aviat va començar a vendre avions.

(Laughter)

(Rialles)

And knowing so much about the psychology of people

I sabent tan sobre la psicologia de la gent

prepared her well for her current job,

la va preparar per a la seva feina actual

which is that of a psychoanalyst.

que és de psicoanalista.

Now, why were Manya's customers so irrational?

I bé, perquè els clients de la Manya eren tan irracionals?

Manya's success was that she was able

L'èxit de la Manya va ser que era capaç

to open in their heads an image

de mostrar-los una imatge en la seva ment

of an idealized future,

d'un futur idealitzat,

an image of themselves

la imatge d'ells mateixos

when they are already more successful, freer,

quan ja són més lliures i tenen èxit,

and for them, choosing that other car

i per a ells, escollir aquell altre cotxe

was as if they are coming closer to this ideal

era com si s'apropessin una mica més a aquest ideal

in which it was as if Manya already saw them.

en el que la Manya ja els veia.

Now, we rarely make really totally rational choices.

Ara, rarament escollim coses de manera totalment racional.

Choices are influenced by our unconscious,

El que escollim està influenciat per el nostre inconscient,

by our community.

per la nostra comunitat.

We're often choosing

Sovint quan escollim,

by guessing, what would other people

suposem, què pensaria l'altra gent

think about our choice?

sobre el que hem escollit?

Also we are choosing

També escollim

by looking at what others are choosing.

mirant al que l'altra gent escull.

We're also guessing what is socially acceptable choice.

També suposem quina és l'elecció acceptada socialment.

Now, because of this, we actually

I per això, fins i tot quan

even after we have already chosen,

ja hem escollit alguna cosa,

like bought a car,

com quan hem comprat un cotxe,

endlessly read reviews about cars,

llegim opinions i ressenyes sobre cotxes,

as if we still want to convince ourselves

com si volguéssim convèncer-nos

that we made the right choice.

que hem fet l'elecció adeqüada.

Now, choices are anxiety-provoking.

Escollir provoca ansietat.

They are linked to risks, losses.

Va de la mà amb riscs, pèrdues.

They are highly unpredictable.

Són altament imprevisibles.

Now, because of this,

I per això, ara,

people have now more and more problems

la gent tenim més i més problemes

that they are not choosing anything.

que no escollim res.

Not long ago, I was at a wedding reception,

No fa gaire, vaig ser en una recepció nupcial,

and I met a young, beautiful woman

i vaig conèixer a una dona jove, bonica

who immediately started telling me about her anxiety over choice.

que immediatament em va començar a parlar sobre la seva ansietat quan es tracta d'escollir.

She said to me, "I needed one month

Em va dir, "Necessitava un mes

to decide which dress to wear."

per decidir quin vestit portar."

Then she said, "For weeks I was researching

Després va dir, "Durant setmanes vaig investigar

which hotel to stay for this one night.

quin seria el millor hotel per aquesta única nit.

And now, I need to choose a sperm donor."

I ara, necessito triar un donant d'esperma."

(Laughter)

(Rialles)

I looked at this woman in shock.

La vaig mirar en xoc.

"Sperm donor? What's the rush?"

"Un donant d'esperma? Quina pressa hi ha?"

She said, "I'm turning 40 at the end of this year,

Va dir, "En faré 40 a finals d'any,

and I've been so bad in choosing men in my life."

i ho he fet tan malament escollint homes en la meva vida."

Now choice, because it's linked to risk,

Per això escollir, com que va lligat amb el risc,

is anxiety-provoking,

provoca ansietat,

and it was already the famous

i ja el famós filòsof danès

Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard

Søren Kierkegaard

who pointed out that anxiety

va anomenar que l'ansietat

is linked to the possibility of possibility.

va lligada a la possibilitat de la possibilitat.

Now, we think today that we can prevent these risks.

Ara, ens pensem que avui dia podem prevenir aquests riscs.

We have endless market analysis,

Tenim innumerables anàlisis de mercat,

projections of the future earnings.

projeccions dels guanys futurs.

Even with market, which is about chance,

Fins i tot amb el mercat, que ve donat per l'atzar,

randomness, we think we can predict rationally

aletòriament, ens pensem que podem predir racionalment

where it's going.

cap a on anirà.

Now, chance is actually becoming very traumatic.

Ara, l'atzar s'està s'està convertint en una cosa molt traumàtica.

Last year, my friend Bernard Harcourt

L'any passat, el meu amic Bernard Harcourt

at the University of Chicago organized an event,

de la Universitat de Chicago va organitzar un esdeveniment,

a conference on the idea of chance.

una conferència sobre la idea de l'atzar.

He and I were together on the panel,

Ell i jo estàvem junts al grup,

and just before delivering our papers —

i just abans d'entregar les nostres ponències —

we didn't know each other's papers —

no coneixiem la ponència de l'altre —

we decided to take chance seriously.

vam decidir de prendre'ns l'atzar seriosament.

So we informed our audience

Així que vam informar a la nostra audiència

that what they will just now hear

que el que sentirien a continuació

will be a random paper,

seria una ponència aleatòria,

a mixture of the two papers

una barreja de dos escrits

which we didn't know what each was writing.

dels quals no sabiem el que l'altre havia escrit.

Now, we delivered the conference in such a way.

I bé, vam fer la conferència d'aquesta manera.

Bernard read his first paragraph,

En Bernard va llegir el seu primer paràgraf,

I read my first paragraph,

jo vaig llegir el meu,

Bernard read his second paragraph,

en Bernard va llegir el seu segon paràgraf,

I read my second paragraph,

jo vaig llegir el meu també,

in this way towards the end of our papers.

d'aquesta manera fins al final dels nostres escrits.

Now, you will be surprised

Estareu sorpresos

that a majority of our audience

de que la majoria de l'audiència

did not think that what they'd just listened to

no va pensar que el que acabaven d'escoltar

was a completely random paper.

era un escrit totalment aleatori.

They couldn't believe that

No es podien creure que

speaking from the position of authority

parlant des de dues posicions autoritàries

like two professors we were,

com els professors que èrem,

we would take chance seriously.

ens prendriem l'atzar seriosament.

They thought we prepared the papers together

Van pensar que haviem preparat els escrits junts

and were just joking that it's random.

i fèiem broma de que eren aleatoris.

Now, we live in times with a lot of information,

Ara, vivim en un temps de molta informació,

big data,

grans dades,

a lot of knowledge about the insides of our bodies.

molt de coneixement sobre el que hi ha dins el nostre cos.

We decoded our genome.

Hem descodificat el nostre genoma.

We know about our brains more than before.

Sabem sobre el nostre cervell més que abans.

But surprisingly, people are more and more

Però sorprenentment, la gent ignora

turning a blind eye in front of this knowledge.

més i més tot aquest coneixement.

Ignorance and denial are on the rise.

La ignorància i la negació van en augment.

Now, in regard to the current economic crisis,

Ara, respecte a la crisi econòmica actual,

we think that we will just wake up again

ens pensem que simplement ens aixecarem altra vegada

and everything will be the same as before,

i tot tornarà a ser com abans,

and no political or social changes are needed.

i que cap canvi polític i social és necessari.

In regard to ecological crisis,

Respecte a la crisi ecològica,

we think nothing needs to be done just now,

ens pensem que no s'ha de fer res ara encara,

or others need to act before us.

o que altres han de fer-ho abans que nosaltres.

Or even when ecological crisis already happens,

O fins i tot quan ja hi ha una crisi ecològica,

like a catastrophe in Fukushima,

com la catàstrofe de Fukushima,

often we have people living in the same environment

sovint tenim a gent que viu en el mateix entorn

with the same amount of information,

amb la mateixa quantitat d'informació,

and half of them will be anxious about radiation

i la meitat estaràn ansiosos per la radiació

and half of them will ignore it.

i l'altra meitat la ignorarà.

Now, psychoanalysts know very well

Els psicoanalistes saben molt bé

that people surprisingly don't have

que sorprenentment la gent no té

passion for knowledge

passió pel coneixement

but passion for ignorance.

sinó passió per la ignorància.

Now, what does that mean?

I què vol dir això?

Let's say when we are facing

Diguem que quan estem davant

a life-threatening illness,

d'una malaltia de vida o mort,

a lot of people don't want to know that.

molta gent no ho vol saber.

They'd rather prefer denying the illness,

Preferirien negar l'existència de la malaltia,

which is why it's not so wise to inform them

per això no és gaire bona idea informar-los

if they don't ask.

si no pregunten.

Surprisingly, research shows that sometimes

Sorprenentment, la investigació mostra que a vegades

people who deny their illness

la gent que nega la seva malaltia

live longer than those who are rationally choosing

viu més que aquells que racionalment trien

the best treatment.

el millor tractament.

Now, this ignorance, however,

Ara bé, aquesta ignorància,

is not very helpful on the level of the social.

no és gaire d'ajuda a nivell social.

When we are ignorant about where we are heading,

Quan ignorem cap a on ens encaminem,

a lot of social damage can be caused.

podem causar molts danys socials.

Now, on top of facing ignorance,

A més d'encarar-nos a la ignorància,

we are also facing today

avui dia també ens trobem al davant

some kind of an obviousness.

d'algun tipus d'obvietats.

Now, it was French philosopher

Va ser el filòsof francès

Louis Althusser who pointed out

Louis Althusser que va destacar

that ideology functions in such a way

que la ideologia funciona de tal manera

that it creates a veil of obviousness.

que crea un vel d'obvietat.

Before we do any social critique,

Abans de fer cap crítica social,

it is necessary really to lift that veil of obviousness

cal realment aixecar aquest vel d'obvietat

and to think through a little bit differently.

i pensar d'una manera una mica diferent.

If we go back to this ideology

Si tornem a aquesta ideologia

of individual, rational choice

d'escollir individual i racionalment,

we often embrace,

que sovint utilitzem,

it's necessary precisely here

és necessari, precisament aquí,

to lift this obviousness

d'aixecar aquest vel d'obvietat

and to think a little bit differently.

i de pensar de manera una mica diferent.

Now for me, a question often is

Per a mi, sovint la pregunta sol ser

why we still embrace this idea of a self-made man

Per què estem utilitzant encara aquesta idea de fer-se a un mateix

on which capitalism relied from its beginning?

en la que el capitalisme s'ha recolzat des del principi?

Why do we think that we are really such masters

Per què pensem que som tant amos

of our lives that we can rationally

de les nostres vides que racionalment

make the best ideal choices,

podem fer les decisions ideals

that we don't accept losses and risks?

i que no acceptem les pèrdues i els riscs?

And for me, it's very shocking to see sometimes very poor people,

I per a mi, es xocant veure de vegades a gent molt pobre

for example, not supporting the idea

per exemple, que no suporta la idea

of the rich being taxed more.

de que els rics tinguin impostos més alts.

Quite often here they still identify

Sovint encara s'identifiquen

with a certain kind of a lottery mentality.

amb algun tipus de mentalitat de loteria.

Okay, maybe they don't think that they will make it

D'acord, potser no pensen que ho aconseguiràn

in the future, but maybe they think,

en el futur, però potser pensen,

my son might become the next Bill Gates.

el meu fill podria esdevenir el próxim Bill Gates.

And who would want to tax one's son?

I qui voldria posar impotos al seu propi fill?

Or, a question for me is also,

O, una altra pregunta per a mi és també,

why would people who have no health insurance

Per què la gent que no té cobertura mèdica

not embrace universal healthcare?

no ha de voler asistència mèdica universal?

Sometimes they don't embrace it,

Moltes vegades no accepten la idea,

again identifying with the idea of choice,

perquè altra vegada s'identifiquen amb la idea d'escollir,

but they have nothing to choose from.

però no tenen res sobre què escollir.

Now, Margaret Thatcher famously said

La Margaret Thatcher va dir famosament

that there is nothing like a society.

que no hi ha tal cosa com una societat.

Society doesn't exist, it is only individuals

La societat no existeix, només hi ha individuals

and their families.

i les seves famílies.

Sadly, this ideology still functions very well,

Malauradament, aquesta ideologia encara funciona molt bé,

which is why people who are poor might feel

i per això la gent pobre pot ser que es senti

ashamed for their poverty.

avergonyida de la seva pobresa.

We might endlessly feel guilty that we are

Pot ser que tinguem un sentiment de culpa inacabable de que

not making the right choices,

no estem fent escollint el que és correcte,

and that's why we didn't succeed.

i que per això no hem tingut èxit.

We are anxious that we are not good enough.

Estem ansiosos per què no som prou bons.

That's why we work very hard,

Per això treballem molt dur,

long hours at the workplace

llargues hores al lloc de feina

and equally long hours on remaking ourselves.

i més hores refent-nos a nosaltres mateixos.

Now, when we are anxious over choices,

Ara, quan ens sentim ansiosos per culpa d'eleccions,

sometimes we easily give our power of choice away.

a vegades donem el nostre poder d'escollir a algú altre.

We identify with the guru

Ens identifiquem amb el gurú

who tells us what to do,

que ens diu què hem de fer,

self-help therapist,

el terapeuta d'auto-ajuda,

or we embrace a totalitarian leader

o acceptem un líder totalitari

who appears to have no doubts about choices,

que sembla que no té cap subte sobre escollir,

who sort of knows.

que sembla que sap el que es fa.

Now, often people ask me,

Ara, sovint la gent em pregunta,

"What did you learn by studying choice?"

"Què has après estudiant l'acte d'escollir?"

And there is an important message that I did learn.

I hi ha un missatge important que he après.

When thinking about choices,

Quan vaig començar a pensar sobre escollir,

I stopped taking choices too seriously, personally.

vaig posar fi a prendre'm el que escullo massa seriosament, personalment.

First, I realized a lot of choice I make

Primer, vaig entendre que moltes de les coses que trio

is not rational.

no són racionals.

It's linked to my unconscious,

Està lligat al meu inconscient,

my guesses of what others are choosing,

les meves suposicions del que l'altra gent escull,

or what is a socially embraced choice.

o l'elecció que la societat accepta.

I also embrace the idea

També adopto la idea

that we should go beyond

de que hauríem d'anar més enllà

thinking about individual choices,

de pensar en escollir individualment,

that it's very important to rethink social choices,

que és molt important de repensar-nos el que escollim a nivell social,

since this ideology of individual choice has pacified us.

ja que aquesta ideologia de l'individual ens ha pacificat.

It really prevented us to think about social change.

Realment ens ha fet no pensar en el canvi social.

We spend so much time choosing things for ourselves

Passem tant de temps escollint coses per a nosaltres

and barely reflect on

que vagament reflexionem en

communal choices we can make.

les eleccions comunes que podem fer.

Now, we should not forget that choice

I no ens hem d'oblidar que aquestes eleccions

is always linked to change.

sempre van lligades al canvi.

We can make individual changes,

Podem fer canvis individuals,

but we can make social changes.

però podem fer canvis socials.

We can choose to have more wolves.

Podem triar tenir més llops.

We can choose to change our environment

Podem triar canviar el nostre entorn

to have more bees.

per tenir més abelles.

We can choose to have different rating agencies.

Podem triar tenir diferents agències de ràting.

We can choose to control corporations

Podem triar controlar a les corporacions

instead of allowing corporations to control us.

en comptes de deixar que les corporacions ens controlin a nosaltres.

We have a possibility to make changes.

Tenim la possibilitat de fer un canvi.

Now, I started with a quote from Samuel Johnson,

He començat amb una frase del Samuel Johnson,

who said that when we make choice in life,

que va dir que quan fem la nostra tria en la vida,

we shouldn't forget to live.

no ens hem d'oblidar de viure.

Finally, you can see

Finalment, podeu veure

I did have a choice

que si que tenia elecció en

to choose one of the three quotes

la tria de quina de les tres frases

with which I wanted to start my lecture.

amb les quals volia començar la meva xerrada.

I did have a choice,

Tenia elecció,

such as nations, as people,

i les nacions, com les persones,

we have choices too to rethink

també tenim eleccions per repensar

in what kind of society we want to live in the future.

en quina mena de societat volem viure en el futur.

Thank you.

Gràcies.

(Applause)

(Aplaudiments)