The Icon Project: The Transnational Capitalist Class in Action

Abstract

This article—a product of current research on iconic architecture and capitalist globalization—argues that iconicity in general, and in architecture and urban design in particular is a telling case study of how the four fractions of the transnational capitalist class (corporate, political, professional, and consumerist) act to sustain and enlarge their hegemony through the use of both intangible and tangible objects that foster the global diffusion of the culture-ideology of consumerism. Iconicity is defined in terms of (a) fame and (b) symbolic/aesthetic significance, and while many different interpretations can be and have been applied to iconic phenomena (e.g. celebrities of various types, products, images, buildings, architects) this article will emphasize the uses of iconicity in the conscious construction of transnational capitalist class projects at various levels of action. The article concludes with an analysis of the ways in which the transnational capitalist class in and around architecture, urban design, and other iconic modalities manufactures iconicity for buildings and objects even before they are built, notably through the global dissemination of images of what they might look like—their aesthetic significance—and what they might signify—their symbolic significance.

Este artículo—un producto de una investigación actual sobre la arquitectura icónica y la globalización capitalista—plantea que la iconicidad en general y en arquitectura y diseño urbano en particular, es un caso de estudio sobre cómo las cuatro fracciones de la clase capitalista trasnacional (corporativa, política, profesional y consumista) actúan para sostener y engrandecer su hegemonía a través del uso de objetos tanto intangibles como tangibles que fomentan la difusión de la ideología-cultura de consumismo. La iconicidad se define en términos de (a) fama y (b) importancia simbólica/estética, y mientras muchas interpretaciones pueden y han sido aplicadas al fenómeno icónico (verbigracia las celebridades de varios tipos, productos, imágenes, edificios, arquitectos), este artículo enfatizará los usos de la iconicidad en la construcción consciente de proyectos de la clase capitalista trasnacional, en varios niveles de acción. El artículo concluye con un análisis de las formas en las cuales la clase capitalista trasnacional, dentro y alrededor de la arquitectura, el diseño urbano y otras modalidades icónicas elaboran iconicidad para los edificios y objetos, inclusive antes de que se hayan construido, concretamente mediante la diseminación global de imágenes de cómo se vería—su importancia estética— y lo que pueden llegar a significar—la trascendencia simbólica.

本文是目前的关于偶像架构和资本主义全球化的研究结果，认为，偶像性，尤其是建筑和城市设计，告诉我们跨国资本主义阶级的四个组成部分（公司、政治、专业人士和消费者）如何通过使用有形和无形的助长消费主义的文化意识形态的扩散的物体来支撑和扩大他们的霸权。偶像性依据（a）名声和（b）象征/美学的重要性来定义，同时，许多不同的解读能被用于和已经用于偶像现象（各种类型的名人、产品、形象、建筑、设计师）。本文强调，在各种行动层次上的跨国资本主义阶级的项目的有意识的建筑方面偶像性的使用。最后，本文得出了一种关于各类方式的分析，说明跨国资本主义阶级甚至在这些东西被建造以前，就在和围绕着建筑结构、都市设计和其它物体的偶像形式 制造偶像性，尤其是通过它们可能期待的——它们的美学重要性——和它们可能代表的意义——它们的象征性重要性的形象的全球传播。

يذهب هذا المقال- وهو نتاج لبحث جارٍ على المعمار الأيقوني والعولمة الرأسمالية- إلى أن الأيقونية بوجه عام والتصميم الحضري بشكل خاص يمثلان دراسة حالة مفيدة لكيفية عمل الأقسام الأربعة للطبقة الرأسمالية متعدية القوميات (الشركة، العنصر السياسي، العنصر المهني، والعنصر الاستهلاكي) للحفاظ على هيمنتها وتوسيعها من خلال استخدام كل الأشياء المادية وغير المادية التي تعزز النشر العالمي لثقافة- أيديولوجية النزعة الاستهلاكية. وتتحدد الأيقونية بمصطلحي (أ) الشهرة ؛ (ب) المغزى الرمزي/الجمالي. وهناك كثير من التفسيرات التي يمكن تطبيقها، والتي طُبقت بالفعل، على الظواهر الأيقونية (مثل نجوم المشاهير من مختلف الأنواع، والمنتجات، والصور، والأبنية، والطرز المعمارية) إلا إن هذا المقال يركز على استخدامات الأيقونية في البناء الواعي لمشروعات الطبقة الرأسمالية متعدية القوميات على مختلف مستويات العمل. ويُختتم المقال بتحليل الطرق التي تستخدمها هذه الطبقة في المعمار وحوله، والتصميم الحضري وغيرها من الأشكال الأيقونية في إقامة البنايات وغيرها حتى قبل أن تُقام، وعلى وجه الخصوص من خلال النشر العالمي للصور لما هي عليه- أي مغزاها الجمالي- ولما يمكن أن تكون دلالة عليه- أي مغزاها الرمزي.

이 논문은 상징적인 건축과 자본주의적 세계화에 관한 현행 연구 결과이다. 이 논문은 일반적으로 건축에서 특히 도시 디자인에서 4가지 초국적 자본가 분파들(기업, 정치, 전문, 소비자)이 소비주의라는 문화이데올로기를 지구적으로 확산시키기 위해 어떻게 만질 수 없거나 혹은 만질 수 있는 상징성을 이용하여 그들의 헤게모니를 유지하거나 확산시키고자 행동하는지에 대해 말해주는 사례 연구이다. 상징성은 (a) 유명함과 (b) 상징적/심미적 의미에 의해서 정의되고 그리고 상징적 현상(다양한 형태의 유명인, 산물, 이미지, 건물과 건축)에 다양한 해석이 적용될 수 있고 또 적용되었지만, 이 논문은 다양한 수준에서 초국적 자본가계급 프로젝트를 의식적으로 구축하는데 있어서 상징성을 이용한다는 점을 강조한다. 이 글은 건축물, 도시 디자인과 다른 상징적 양식을 중심으로 해서 그들이 지어지기 전에도 초국적 계급이 미학적인 의미와 지어진 이후 그것의 상징적 의미를 전지구적으로 전파해서 건축과 오브제의 상징성을 만드는 방식을 분석하여 결론을 맺는다.

Keywords:

• transnational capitalist class
• icons
• iconicity
• globalization
• culture-ideology of consumerism

Acknowledgement

This article is based on Sklair's keynote address at the Prague Conference. Struna's editorial suggestions, plus theoretical and substantive improvements to the original justify his co-authorship of this version.

Notes

This is what lies behind the twin crises of capitalist globalization—class polarization and ecological unsustainability, a perennial feature of the capitalist mode of production intensified to unbearable levels by capitalist globalization (see Sklair 2001, 2002).

Iconicity, of course, is an important concept in the history of art (notably for religious artefacts) as well as in debates around meaning, and in the discipline of semantics. The discussion here, as indicated by our definition of the iconic, is mainly focused on how the terms (icon and iconic) are actually used in common parlance today.

Keeping in mind of course that the ‘armour of coercion’ (Gramsci, 2005b [1929–1935], p. 263) is ever present, and can be invoked as needed. See Bill Robinson's article, ‘Global Capitalism and its “Anti-human Face”: Organic Intellectuals and Interpretations of the Crisis’ (this issue).

A Google search of the terms ‘icon’/‘iconic’ yields ‘about 92,500,000 results’ at the time of writing (summer 2013)—substantially more than Langmead's search a few years earlier.

For an account of the genesis of the TCC as a concept, see Sklair (2001, ch. 2) and for recent developments in the literature, Carroll (2010).

Of course, the idea of an iconic brand and/or company going wrong is often discussed, particularly in the case of discredited celebrity icons.

As is well known to scholars, lazy journalists often simply reproduce corporate press releases in their ‘reporting’ of business news—especially as profits are enhanced by reducing journalistic and editorial staffs, and capitalizing on the labour of the public relations firms. The average reader is unlikely to be fully aware of this when it occurs.

Originally run by the Department of Media, Culture and Sport this initiative was privatized in 2007 and can still be accessed at http://www.icons.org.uk/. It is linked to the national culture online site at http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/http://www.cultureonline.gov.uk/index.html.

See Tai (2001) for an excellent critical review of the Nora project and its translation into English and Pigeon (1996) for an interesting perspective on French colonial icons.

According to Wikipedia, he was chosen a Man of the Year for 2005 by Glamour magazine, and Musician of the Year by GQ magazine more than once—a testament to the power of iconicity.

These processes also spill over into genuinely transnational forms of the icon project through such mechanisms as the UNESCO World Heritage Sites process—important for urban boosterism and global tourism.

This approach exemplifies the idea of icon as enigmatic signifier, though Jencks (2005) does not cite Betsky's book.

This was a weekly column, no longer extant, that swung uncertainly between satire and cynicism in its reports on the content of academic journals.

The Greenwood website is the best guide, but see, for example, Cross (2002), Hall and Hall (2006), Joshi (2008).