Chapter 9. A Theory of Revolution in Cyclical Reciprocism
Section 1. The Basic Structure of Revolution
In Cyclical Reciprocism, revolution is described as a social transformation in which the process through which meaning is formed between the individual and society, outsourced, interpreted, and fed back into society ceases to function according to its existing mode. The core structure related to revolution is as follows.
Therefore, revolution cannot be explained simply by the magnitude of dissatisfaction. The key question is whether the existing meaning system can continue to explain and sustain reality.
Section 2. Conditions for the Outbreak of Revolution
The premise of revolution is the discrepancy between the existing meaning system and reality.
In other words, when the meaning system operating in society can no longer maintain consistency with the reality experienced by individuals, the meaningful foundation of the existing order weakens. What is important here is to distinguish simple dissatisfaction from the collapse of the meaning system. The existence of dissatisfaction and the inability of the existing meaning system to process reality are not the same.
Section 3. Absurdity and Revolutionary Crisis
In Cyclical Reciprocism, absurdity is not simply a state in which the world does not answer. Absurdity is a state in which the world actively presents its own answer to human beings and, when human beings reject it, violently forces that answer upon them, thereby collapsing their existing meanings and interpretations.
Therefore, at the social level, the following process appears:
When this accumulates, a revolutionary crisis is formed.
Section 4. Nihilism and Anomie
Nihilism is not simply the proposition, “Life has no meaning.” In Cyclical Reciprocism, nihilism is a state in which the existing meanings and interpretations within human beings have collapsed because they are unable to accept the meanings and interpretations violently imposed by the world.
Therefore:
At the social level:
Therefore, a revolutionary crisis is understood as a process in which the social function of the meaning system is weakened on a large scale.
Section 5. Conditions for the Failure of Revolution: Outsourcing of Meaning → Reclaiming Interpretive Authority → Independent Interpretation → Withdrawal
The fact that the existing meaning system has been shaken does not mean that revolution will necessarily occur. In Cyclical Reciprocism, the outsourcing of meaning and the outsourcing of interpretation are distinguished. Individuals may accept meanings from outside.
However, individuals have not transferred to external forces even the right to determine:
Therefore, the following pathway is possible:
In this case, an individual may reject the existing meaning system without participating in revolution.
Section 6. Existential Cutting of Ties and the Failure of Revolution
If an individual who has reclaimed interpretive authority determines:
the individual does not necessarily need to choose the overthrow of the system.
Rather, the following pathway is possible:
This is called an existential soft landing or existential cutting of ties.
The key point is:
Section 7. The Paradox of Reclaiming Subjectivity
From a revolution-centered perspective, one may expect the following connection:
However, in Cyclical Reciprocism, this connection is not inevitable.
An individual who has recovered subjectivity may choose not only:
but also:
Individual adaptation
Every-person-for-themselves
Depoliticization
Therefore:
Section 8. The Mechanism of “Champagne Socialists”·Class Betrayal
This structure is connected to phenomena such as champagne socialists or class betrayal. The key is the separation of the outsourcing of meaning from the reclaiming of interpretive authority.
Structure:
Therefore, the fact that an individual who once accepted an external meaning system later transforms or modifies that meaning system in their own way and then withdraws from the existing political ranks, or abandons the meaning system itself when necessary, cannot be viewed simply as a contradiction. This is because the act of accepting a meaning and the act of determining whether to continue accepting that meaning are separate.
In the structure presented by the original text, such withdrawal can lead to:
Section 9. Separation of Class Conditions and Political Choice
Class position or social position does not permanently fix political choices.
The structure of Cyclical Reciprocism is:
Therefore, class position and political subjectivity are not identical.
Within this structure, class betrayal is explained as the following process:
Section 10. The Strategic Logic of Creating a Revolutionary Environment
In Cyclical Reciprocism, the core strategic proposition concerning the creation of a revolutionary environment is:
This structure can be summarized as:
The key here is not to treat the destruction of the existing meaning system and the presentation of a new meaning system as the same stage.
Section 11. Criticism Without an Alternative and the Revolutionary Environment
In Cyclical Reciprocism, the logical core of the creation of a revolutionary environment is:
In other words, this differs from the conventional revolutionary education model that immediately creates:
Here, what matters first is:
In the original text, this is presented as a strategic form of “destruction of the existing meaning system without an alternative meaning.”
Section 12. Opposition to the Revolutionary Education·Vanguardization Model
The structure contrasted in the original text is as follows.
Revolutionary Education·Vanguardization Model
Revolutionary Environment Model of Cyclical Reciprocism
In other words:
and
are separated.
Section 13. Meaning Vacuum and the Search for New Meaning After Revolution
When revolution destroys the existing order, the existing meaning system also weakens.
As a result:
occurs. Human beings seek new alternatives because they need meaning. New meaning does not necessarily have to be created from nothing.
Things already existing within society and history, such as:
Religion
Communities
Identities
Political goals
Explanations of a new social order
can function as new meaning systems.
Section 14. Outsourcing of Meaning After Revolution
When a new meaning emerges, the outsourcing of meaning becomes possible again.
The structure is:
Therefore, the key question after revolution is:
Section 15. Outsourcing of Meaning and the Seizure of Revolution
When a particular political group becomes the supplier of a new meaning system and the masses outsource it:
becomes possible.
Therefore, organization and purposive direction are not the same problem as the outbreak of revolution. Organization and purpose do not necessarily have to be completed before the revolution; they can function to fill the meaning vacuum that arises after the revolution and to seize control of its outcome.
Section 16. Separation of Revolution and the Seizure of Power
Within this structure, the following are distinguished.
Occurrence of Revolution
Seizure of Power After Revolution
Therefore:
Section 17. System Maintenance and Political Realignment Away from the System
Cyclical Reciprocism analyzes not only the occurrence of revolution but also the failure of revolution and the maintenance of the system through the same framework. A system does not need to demand enthusiastic loyalty from the masses.
If the masses move through:
collective political action may weaken.
Therefore, the theory's paradox is that the masses' cynicism and cutting of ties itself can serve as a buffer for system stability.
Section 18. The Soft-Landing Mechanism of System Maintenance
One form of system maintenance is to provide the masses with space in which they can cut ties with the system at the level of meaning.
The structure can be summarized as:
The original text interprets private economic activities·consumption·digital entertainment·depolitical cynicism in China and Russia as examples of this dispersion and soft landing of political meaning.
Section 19. Minimal Safety Nets and the Failure of Revolution
The original text also presents a more realistic buffering mechanism.
Wages and political options during the events of 1968, Bismarck's social insurance, and the Soviet NEP are connected as examples of such soft landings. What is important in this structure is not persuading the masses with a new ideology, but providing a concrete and realistic basis from which individuals can withdraw from existing collective action.
Section 20. Gramsci's Hegemony and the Outsourcing of Meaning
Cyclical Reciprocism has a certain point of contact with Gramsci's hegemony.
If Gramsci explains the process by which the values and worldview of the ruling class are accepted as the “common sense” of society, Cyclical Reciprocism can reinterpret this as:
However, the key difference is:
Individuals can at any time compare the meaning system with their own reality, reinterpret it, and withdraw from it.
Section 21. Gramsci's War of Position and the Collapse of the Meaning System
Gramsci's war of position is presented as a strategy for changing the cultural·ideological structures existing within civil society over the long term.
Cyclical Reciprocism distinguishes between:
and
Therefore, the core of the revolutionary environment is explained in the following direction:
The original text connects Gramsci's war of position and concept of crisis to this collapse of the meaning system, focusing on the process through which the meaningful foundation maintained by the existing system weakens.
Section 22. The Limitations of Revolution-Centeredism
From the perspective of Cyclical Reciprocism, an important criticism is that the subjective interpretation of the masses should not be equated with the interpretation of revolutionaries.
When revolutionaries say:
if the masses actually reclaim interpretive authority, they may instead reassess even:
Therefore, it is not only:
that exists.
There is also:
This is why enlightening the masses does not guarantee that they will necessarily move in the political direction desired by revolutionaries.
Section 23. Formation and Withdrawal of the Revolutionary Subject
In Cyclical Reciprocism, the revolutionary subject is not a fixed class-based entity.
The masses can repeatedly undergo:
Therefore, a person can change from revolutionary to non-revolutionary, and conversely, a non-revolutionary individual can move toward becoming a revolutionary subject through a conflict between new reality and meaning. The key is that the state of the subject is not fixed and changes according to the feedback between meaning and interpretation.
Section 24. The Possibility of Revolution in Advanced Societies
In Cyclical Reciprocism:
As society develops, new realities and new experiences emerge.
As a result:
can occur again.
Therefore, the possibility of revolutionary change does not disappear even in advanced societies. The issues of revolution may change according to the era.
In societies where survival and distribution were central, material problems are important, but in new societies:
Dignity
Identity
Recognition
Lifestyle
Social relations
Institutional fairness
and so forth can become points of conflict between new meaning systems and reality.
Section 25. The Dual Pathways of the Occurrence and Failure of Revolution
Failure of Revolution
Revolution
Section 26. Linkage Between Creating a Revolutionary Environment and Seizing Power After Revolution
The overall mechanism of revolution can be summarized as follows.
A. Weakening of the Existing Order
B. Revolutionary Environment
C. After Revolution
Section 27. Functional Separation of Revolutionary Tactics and the Seizure of Power
In Cyclical Reciprocism, it is important to distinguish these two.
Creation of a revolutionary environment
Seizure of power after revolution
→ Outsourcing of meaning
Therefore, the function of destroying existing meaning and the function of supplying new meaning are different from each other. And when a particular political group provides a new meaning to the masses after the revolution and that meaning is outsourced, the group can organize the outcome of the revolution according to its own political direction.
Section 28. The Core Revolutionary Proposition of Cyclical Reciprocism
Revolution is not simply a phenomenon in which the masses have a great deal of dissatisfaction. It is a phenomenon in which the existing meaning system loses consistency with reality, its trust and function collapse, absurdity and nihilism·anomie emerge, and, in the process through which individuals and groups reinterpret or withdraw from the existing meaning system, a new meaning system is formed and fed back into society, resulting in the large-scale reorganization of the existing order.
Also:
Therefore, even after accepting meaning from outside, individuals can reclaim their interpretive authority, withdraw from that meaning system, and this can lead to the failure of revolution and the maintenance of the system.
Conversely, when revolution actually causes the existing order to collapse:
Section 29. Comprehensive Diagram of the Outbreak, Failure, and Seizure of Revolution
Outbreak of Revolution
Failure of Revolution
Strategic Logic of Creating a Revolutionary Environment
Seizure After Revolution
Section 30. Overall Synthesis of the Revolutionary Theory of Cyclical Reciprocism
In Cyclical Reciprocism, revolution begins with the emergence of nihilism·anomie as the existing meaning system loses consistency with reality and its trust and function collapse. Revolution may fail when individuals reclaim their interpretive authority and withdraw from the existing meaning system, but after the existing order actually collapses, the political group that receives the outsourcing of the meaning vacuum created thereafter by providing new meaning becomes capable of seizing the direction and outcome of the revolution.