Circulation and capitalizing mediatization in hypermediatized societies 151 when we recognize ourselves as subjects of the society of jouissance and global capitalism rather than marginalized or isolated subjects, we leap be- yond that society. The limits of the society of jouissance are frightening precisely because we can- not recognize them as such. By recognizing these limits – recognizing the extent of our obedience – we find a way out of this obedience (MCGOWAN, 2004, p. 194). Formerly, in societies at the time of Freud and in mo- dernity, the superego of prohibition operated, in which symbolic authority did not encourage the enjoyment of subjects; with the entry into the third spirit of capitalism, which some call liquid society, others neoliberalism, or postmodernism, social func- tioning encourages consumers to enjoy: “in the society of enjoyment, enjoyment appears for the first time as a practical pos- sibility” (ibid.). For McGowan, both societies use the seductive image of the ultimate, complete jouissance. In one, the subject must sacrifice this total jouissance, in the other, one must seek it. It constitutes a bait: “as long as subjects remain enchanted by an enjoyment not haunted by any fault, they cannot escape the subjection which makes enjoyment impossible” (ibid.). It is an ideal impossible to achieve, and it blocks the subject from seek- ing partial, possible jouissance. Partial jouissance has a political content precisely because of its connection with the other. The sub- ject of partial jouissance is committed not only to his own enjoyment but also to the enjoyment of the other. Such a subject recognizes that one cannot differentiate between the two; one can- not choose jouissance for oneself while refusing the jouissance of the other. Accepting the partial- ity of one’s own enjoyment is, at the same time, embracing the enjoyment of the other (idem, p. 195). It connects with the political and semiotic operation of subjects turned to the semiotics of mixing and not screen-
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