Enhancing the Metaphor of Zombie-Ism

Home , Enter Shikari, Option Paralysis, The Mindsweep

Theorising Survivability: Assessing the Metaphor and Impact of ZOMBIE ECONOMICS

Thesis by Tom Forster - 10623345 University of Amsterdam Graduate School of Humanities MA Arts & Culture: Comparative Cultural Analysis 2014/2015

Supervisor: Joost de Bloois Second Reader: Jules Strum Key thoughts:

As metaphors for illicit globalisation, zombies have emerged as a key pop-culture

referent of the porous nature of socio-cultural, political, and physical boundaries in a

global age defined by an emotional geopolitics of fear1 (Saunders 80)

For the modern citizen, if social and political conditions and one’s own life are

perceived as capable of being arranged and influenced by one’s own (co)decisions, the

citizens - believing in collective - voluntarily subject themselves to the conditions of soci-

ety (Lorey 4)

1 All italicised quotations throughout this thesis have been added for emphasis by the author and are not included in the original texts. Contents Forster 3!

Introduction (4)

Object Introduction: Zombie Economics (9)

Michel Serres: A Philosopher of Survivability (11)

Section 1: How Zombie Economics Created a Zombie Apparatus (15)

The Zombie Economy (15)

The Culture of the Zombie Economy (18)

Section1: Conclusion (23)

Management Model Phase 1 (25)

Section 2: Visual Management Models: Potential Tools for Survivability (26)

Visual Management Models: Facilitators of Zombie-ism (29)

A Case Study: Lean Manufactoring (35)

Section 2: Conclusion (37)

Section 3: The Zombie Apparatus and Survival Thinking (40)

Dual Economy: Dual Apparatus (40)

Types of Thinking (45)

Section 3: Conclusion (50)

Management Model Phase 2 (53)

Section 4: Survival Thinking & Its Environment (54)

Survivability Introduction (54)

Covert Self Aware Survivors - Rise of the Anti-Hero/Fall of the Bad Guy (55)

Manufactured Survivability & Purposeful Precarity (62)

Section 4: Conclusion (67)

Management Model Phase 3 (70)

Conclusion: Survivability as a Theoretical Concept (71)

Bibliography (76) Introduction Forster 4!

Introduction2

The zombie metaphor is a particularly intriguing description of capitalism as it represents everything that humans do not want to be. To a human a zombie cannot think, it cannot feel, its behaviour is irrational, its cannibalistic, its self-destructive and its semi-immortal; which is perhaps the only aspect that a human might like to embrace, but in regards to the economic “com- pensation principle”, the sacrifice of the latter is probably not worth the change (Stiglitz 2012,

72). Despite this, powerful western institutions have committed to undead principles with little regard to culture, now polluted with a common zombie-nomic epistemology.

Thankfully, there are ‘spirits’ in zombies. A dilemma that commonly arises in popular media demonstrating the zombie concept. For instance, the scenes that involve a newly undead family member with a still human next of kin debating on pulling the trigger acknowledging the existence of a such a spirit; that there is something still there and we identify with it, despite it being encapsulated in an immoral zombie ethos. However, as this paper aims to show, in the capitalist context of a zombie economic metaphor (Stiglitz 2015), the human is entirely subservient and in no position to execute alternatives or competitive innovation. The very bedrock of a successful capitalist structure. This leaves the human at the whim of uncertainty and instability as we struggle to understand the evolving logic, or “spirit” (Land & Scott 202) of zombie capitalism.

Returning to the fact that a zombie discourse speaks very effective volumes in economics

(Quiggin 2012; Saunders 80; Stiglitz 2015; Lorey 4), we must concern ourselves with the point that the metaphor is almost exhausted as this research believes. Very recently, there has been unprecedented growth in popular culture to connote the ethos of a zombie to any object that even

2 Parts of this thesis were taken from materials written by the author during the academic year 2014/2015 on MA Arts & Culture: Comparative Cultural Analysis; Intercultural Dialogues 1 & Narrative & Globali- sation Introduction Forster 5! hints space for such a criticism (Saunders 80). We forget that the traditional zombie narrative re- volves around the perspective of the survivors, a neglected dynamic in this discourse which certainly could be used to enhance the entire metaphor. Survivors ‘fight’ zombies, undeterred by the unprecedented odds against them because of their differentiating origins, identities and goals.

Finding the survivors within this metaphorical imagery and developing their identity, as this paper will show, significantly enhances the zombie economy metaphor. If survivability is a counterpart to the zombie, then outlining that cognitive process and evidencing its existence reveals the damaging extent of zombie economics.

Moreover it is not limited to be only a scientific, capitalist metaphor. Before the themes mainstream underscoring in 2012’s Zombie Economics: How Dead Ideas Still Walk Among Us by

Australian economist John Quiggin, other heterodox economists3 such as Ha-Joon Chang (23

Things They Don't Tell you About Capitalism (2010)) and Joseph Stiglitz (The Price of Inequality

(2012)) echoed a very similar ethos throughout their works. Themes of the centralised society

“slowly marching” (Stiglitz 2012, 362) through a “global economy [that] lies in tatters” (Chang

2010, 1) sets the scene for the dystopian apocalypse in our globalised finances. Accordingly, those same economists state that policies of the kind are never limited to control only finance.

Economics governs the quality of life and because of this it has a profound affect on culture. For instance, German and Japanese societies were once deemed “unorganised” and “lazy” by the UK,

Australia and US. Those reputations presented today couldn't be further from the reality, and economics was the agent for that transformation (Chang 2007, 200).

This scientific/cultural interdependency, once exclaimed by many great humanities thinkers such as Michel Serres and Michel Foucault (LaTour 8), is now in tandem with modern

3 Heterodox economics is a field outside that of “mainstream economics”; sometimes thought of as too experimental to be feasible. Introduction Forster 6! economic criticism. Chang wrote in 2007’s Bad Samaritans (200) and reaffirmed in 23 Things thereafter (123) that the economy we live in notably influences our cultural nuances as societies; thus indicating a potential “pollution” of zombie-nomics to a much deeper core than that of our pockets (Serres 31). TV shows Breaking Bad and House of Cards as cultural objects, will help define this cognitive zombie invasion from economics, and outline examples of survivability as its counteraction. However, whilst on the topic of TV shows, it is worth underscoring that this thesis does not analyse zombie objects directly as I am attempting to theorise survivability against the zombie metaphor which now ‘parallels reality’ (Saunders 80). The Walking Dead and its popularity, whilst providing some brief essentials of survivability, merely scratches the surface of our resonance with that metaphor. Digging deeper into other cultural objects that have nothing to do with the zombie directly provides a much more rewarding analysis into the covert cultural pollution of zombie-isms. Prominent scientist and humanities philosopher Michel Serres (whose methods will serve as the core cultural concepts for this paper), posited a type of detrimental scientific “cultural pollution” in our mindsets as early as 1992’s The Natural Contact (31). This in- fers the severity of a long lasting zombie infection spanning decades before today’s vocalised

Zombie Austerity criticisms in economics (Stiglitz 2015).

Serres’s philosophy is central to coining survivability, as will be shown later in his own detailed introduction. For the time being, methodologically, he links the distant subjects of economics and cultural analysis. His lens promotes to academia a capability to shift between disciplines, broadly in his case between science and philosophy, or for this instance heterodox economics and cultural analysis. More specifically, his method cries the importance of each disciplines interconnected wellbeing to critique each other towards betterment (LaTour 47). Introduction Forster 7!

In what temporality is the scholasticism of the text imprisoned? The bifurcated

relationship between science and literature was so frozen, so distant, that the two eterni-

ties seemed to be looking at each other, like two porcelain dogs - like two stone lions

flanking a doorway (LaTour 47)

Serres’s method also takes into consideration the danger of scientific dominance, further expanding the zombie metaphor. Like a zombie, sciences hunger for innovation leads it to the creativity of the survivor to then consume it, but in turn, rearranges the survivors creative poetry into a scientific state of mind therefore removing whatever creative dynamism that remained

(LaTour 87). Similarly, in a zombie dominated world, the opposing survivor party is deceived into wishing to be consumed by that culture because of such inherent levels of zombie predominance. A predominance well feared and articulated by the Foucauldian “apparatus” school of thought from the 1970’s. Confessions of the Flesh outlined a theory of purposeful fine tuning of state institutions that govern knowledge, administration and infrastructure for a preordained cause

(Foucault 194).

Given Serres’s appropriate method to substantiation, a zombie apparatus conquered science and imbedded culture long before its current popularity. Despite this detrimentally, we commit to it biases consistently, even labelling world leaders as culprits for consuming our creative poetry: “Nothing testifies to the resonance of the zombie more than the diffusion of the term in everyday political discourse.” (Saunders 98) The very fact that people critique a leaders discourse in such a way is evident of a survivors thinking, these thoughts then becoming a target of consumption for the zombie society. Creating coexistence between the demands of leaders

(commanding a zombie society) and the survivors will to remain creative is the key dynamic. Es- sentially, outlining the survivor society and then theorising its economic realignment to appease Introduction Forster 8! to both parties; the zombie and the survivor. Using heterodox economics and philosophy, this cultural analysis will interject with the destructive apparatus while it is still in motion, so that we can progress via “the two stone lions flanking [the] doorway” (LaTour 47) to what could be a more universally beneficial school of thought. To that end, this research will discuss:

• Object Introduction: Zombie Economics.

• Michel Serres: A Philosopher of Survivability.

• Section 1: How Zombie Economics Created a Zombie Apparatus.

• Section 2: Management Models: Potential Tools for Survivability.

• Section 3: The Zombie Apparatus and Survival Thinking.

• Section 4: Survival Thinking & Its Environment.

• Conclusion: Survivability as a Theoretical Concept.

Structurally, each of these sections hosts subsections that allow for a thematic panorama around the central thesis, then leading to their individual managerial conclusions for how best to align these ideologies, the zombie and the survivor. However, each sections conclusion will also display a visualised management model which consists of the results drawn from the cultural analysis. In doing this, I hope to conjure more pragmatic thoughts that could be used outside of institutions, as Serres states “when philosophy is trapped in academia it doesn't move much” (La-

Tour 45). A visualised “management model is a ‘stable’ theoretical framework that can be used to observe, create and asses real life organisational ‘situations’ in order to make desired (future) improvements” (Eskildsen et al. 4). My ‘framework’ is separated into three conclusive phases of Introduction Forster 9! development from section one, three and four with section two discussing the object of visualised management models.

In regards to Lawrence Grossberg4 and Serres, who call for an evolutionary type of art and culture if it is to survive, perhaps management models are the signature to that prescription

(Grossberg 110; LaTour 45). This paper takes progressive steps towards battling zombie-ism and its ‘tools’ (Section Two: Management Models: Potential Tools for Survivability), whilst maintaining its humanities origin. Furthermore on that point, thematically layered throughout this thesis is a cry for the interdisciplinary which is especially reinforced by Serres (LaTour 45). With the induction of a management model taken from business theory and colliding it with cultural analysis in the second section, I hope to practice what I preach. Moreover, ones definition of a cultural object can vary greatly. For me, management models are just as much an artistic object as is film; influencing your emotional capacity to see things differently. In line with the thoughts of Serres I hope to develop past: “Notice, here, this concept sheds light on that problem. It’s up to you to develop the details at your own leisure. Good-bye, I’ve got to be going elsewhere” (LaTour 68), given that the humanities can no longer act as an idyll or post-critique of faster moving fields if it wishes to be truly relevant in contemporary debate (Grossberg 1; Alaimo 560).

Object Introduction: Zombie Economics. Recent years have seen an increased focus on the discourse of zombies (Saunders 81). Since 2012, the zombie has had a particularly interesting impact on heterodox economics as the term has proven to be particularly effective in labelling and challenging mainstream economic principles. A zombie metaphor ticks all the boxes as we attempt to understand the problem, reinforced by Saunders: “contemporary depictions of the

4 Cultural Studies in the Future Tense (2010) directly outlines the potential of using cultural analysis to critique heterodox economics (110). As an overall text, it broadly talks about the future of cultural analysis. Introduction Forster 10! walking dead touch a chord deep in the collective psyche, particularly in a world where the old safeguards of Gemeinschaft5 have evaporated” (99).

Since the information revolution of the past few decades, societies now have unlimited access to anything that stimulates curiosity. Enlightenment eras were previously restricted to those with higher educations focused on specified subjects. The provision and immersion of modern technology removes that social barrier and the raw information is readily available for analysis, consumption, belief and disbelief.

However, one problem here is that the information is too raw, and speaks the language of those that until recently have had soul responsibility in moulding the terminology amongst themselves for centuries. Especially in the sciences that govern our society (such governance is defined as “technocracy”); accountancy, economics, legal, political and medical schools of thought have forged a language within a language, taking decades to learn fluently. In turn, these professional languages cannot truly provide societies with the right type of digest required to make de- mocratic decisions, the type of decisions based on clear understanding.

As minds are immersed in translating these complications, the humanities have never been more important to society in providing a path of resonance. With the key in the title, the humanities represent the study of our human creations, often focusing on linking seemingly distant disciplines. Heterodox economics labelling an extremely serious scientific critique with a farcical artistic mythology, such as the zombie, signifies desperation to connect with those materials. Public perceptions of economics are therefore, as occasionally supported by economists

(Chang 2010, 168), becoming just as farcical. Similar ridicule for example already haunts politi-

5 Social relations between individuals, based on close personal and family ties; community. Contrasted with Gesellschaft. Introduction Forster 11! cians, hedge funds and investment bankers. Moreover, the success of literary publications that have embraced the zombie as an economic concept further reinforces the concern.

These texts include 2012’s Zombie Economics: How Dead Ideas Still Walk Among Us by

Australian economist John Quiggin, which introduced the main discourse and closely analyses the links between mainstream economics and the zombie. More recently the critically acclaimed

2015’s Austerity: The Demolition of the Welfare State and the Rise of the Zombie Economy by

Kerry-Anne Mendoza, focuses on the UK as a case study to exemplify the depth of a zombie economy in society. As well as these, more prominent heterodox economists such as Ha-Joon

Chang and Joseph Stiglitz have indirectly reaffirmed the zombie suspicion in their works; drawing similar conclusions despite using more scientific terminology. These four authors and their interlinked theories provide the starting object for this thesis, that is; zombie economics.

Michel Serres: A Philosopher of Survivability. Chang specifically made way for a cultural analysis and for the induction of concepts exterior to economics. Both of Chang’s texts, Bad

Samaritans (200) and 23 Things (123) include dedicated chapters focusing on the cultural impli- cations of the mainstream theories he was critiquing. Not only does he identify the cultural impli- cations to his theories, he also welcomes new fields of thought through his conclusive reinforcement of a pubic that embraces “active economic citizenship” (Chang 2010, xvi). Thus, breaking down institutional barriers and making for a fairer democracy when it comes to understanding future economic decisions.

From insinuating an emphasis on more interdisciplinary thought, he potentially addresses for a humanities counterpart that also strongly advocates for such a breakdown (Chang 2010, xvi;

LaTour 68). Serving as that humanities counterpart, Michel Serres dedicated a career to philosophy that theorises interdependency between the humanities and the sciences where Chang is Introduction Forster 12! based. Serres’s acclaimed philosophy awarded him as one of the current 40 ‘immortals’ of the

Academie française, a council of academics that governs French language, philosophy, culture and art. Although an informal title, that metaphor of immortality in contrast with this papers study of survivability sets his context, with the works of his peers surviving from as far back as 1635.

Inherently Serres work will undoubtably survive all of us. Furthermore, part of his professional duties within this institute is to “defend the French language”, ensuring its survivability against unnecessary linguistic evolutions6 (“Académie française”).

Serres was educated in Paris during the reconstruction of Western Europe after WW2. He grew up in a culture of survivability as the French capital recovered its identity against a disas- trous apocalyptic backdrop. A philosophy of survivability for the context of this paper, starts with him. Discussing his method, Serres’s self-stated contribution to French literature, and therefore to this paper, are childhood upbringings in “spirits of rebirth” after “atmospheres of death” (LaTour

42); metaphors that congregate around the notion of survivability; defeating the odds and rising from ashes.

When a person’s life begins with the experience and atmosphere of death, it can

only move forward in an ongoing spirit of birth, of rebirth, of a positive and overflowing

wellspring of exhilaration. Whom do I thank for having rescued me from all that, for hav-

ing had such luck? After that dark tableau of history I must exalt the magnificence of an

existence dedicated, minute by minute, in great enthusiasm, to a life’s work whose value

I no doubt will never truly know - a dubitative and fragile marvel (LaTour 42)

6 These defences have included restricting anglicisms such as Walkman, Software and Email from the French Dictionary (Morgan) Introduction Forster 13!

Having survived as a child through this dark tableau of history, his mind would have been moulded in such a way that compliments a cultural survivability out of respect for those that died to ensure it. He combines science and the humanities so that they may develop, not critique each other; so that they can prosper past their own comfortable universe as a survivor does. To me, his thoughts in Conversations on Science, Culture and Time (1995) echo that nurturing yet pragmatic mentality of survivability. Indeed, perhaps a cognitive counteraction to the hoards of young Ger- man men that invaded France in 1940 to implement “one law” (Serres 14), metaphorically reso- nant to that of a zombie invasion.

In contrast to that dark tableau of history, present day economists have reflected upon a tangible yet metaphorical atmosphere of death beginning after the 2008 Great Recession, with zombie economics spearheading that notion. We are: “slowly marching” (Stiglitz 2012, 362) through a: “global economy [that] lies in tatters” (Chang 2010, 1), which sets the scene for the economical undead that now governs life. Serres philosophy for this paper provides the founda- tional philosophy of survivability against that of zombie economics if we are to move on with prosperity, “spirits of rebirth” after the Great Recession and its “atmosphere of death” (LaTour

42).

His method epitomises how swift movements between analytical disciplines draws out both their weaknesses and benefits, an equal battleground, before combining these results into an effective critique of our society. Western society, which is exceptionally powerful at keeping these disciplines apart7 misses the merits of combining distant thoughts. “There is often a serious lag between philosophical debate and scientific information” (LaTour 45). He states that the goal of cultural theory and philosophy is create new concepts of thought that are unexplored, but those new thoughts cannot exist without science (LaTour 45). When used in the right way, scientific

7 Better personified by Michel Foucault, who will also provide relevant concepts in this paper. Introduction Forster 14! principles, then, such as heterodox economics and management theory make that philosophy a tangible reality.

Escorted by extracts of his methodological insights from Conversations on Science, Cul- ture and Time (1995) (where Michel Serres was interviewed by Bruno LaTour) this paper will use

Serres’s self-described thoughts as an umbrella concept to cypher out survival philosophy from the zombie economy. Having Serres's method substantiate this first approach, I will then use other objects from journalism, popular culture, scientific studies, management theory and literature that are more tangible in counterpart with his survival philosophy. Finally, as this paper will show later, the infection of a zombie apparatus is of epic proportions, which either demands for great compromise or an entire reset. Serres, having been educated during the reconstruction of western society after WW2, provides an experienced philosophical perspective for epitomising survival against the ‘inevitable economic turmoil that lies ahead’ (Chang 2010, 253). Sciences and the humanities for Serres, is a combinative formula for that ultimate survival, for rebuilding and for- tifying. His life's work highlights the dispositions of each in an attempt to bring about a balance, a framework and future that ensures the survival of betterment.

Rather than a dedicated close reading, Serres work will be sporadically interjected throughout this thesis as and when his thoughts align with my arguments. His inclusion has been done in this way for two reasons. One, I hope to continue his defensive aspirations in regards to the humanities: “This is behind my temptation to write a defence and an illustration of the humanities in the face of, in opposition to, and for the benefit of scientists [or, economists] themselves” (LaTour 55). And two, a homage to his elegant “freedom of thought” (LaTour 43): “In the comparative disciplines you can find yourself in ancient Rome then poof! In Ireland and Wales then, without a pause, poof! in Vedic India” (LaTour 44). With less emphasis on structuring survival philosophy, I hope to recreate his proud spontaneity towards an argument. Section 1: How Zombie Economics Created a Zombie Apparatus Forster 15!

Section 1: How Zombie Economics Created a Zombie Apparatus

The Zombie Economy. As once put by the conservative Prime-Minister Winston

Churchill: “Capitalism is worst economic system apart from all the others”, marking the negative discourse about a system which is noted by many as an effective philosophy for overall human development (Chang 2010, 253). Capitalism and its markets have been mismanaged to the point where it is constantly challenged as the culprit for gross inequality in the world. This is perfectly captured by ex-Bush Administration Housing Secretary, Catherine Fitts (resigned in 2004) who questions how some people know for a fact that market economies do not work when we have never actually had them. She underlines that “when you have a group of people in power…who have the power to kill with impunity, and can steal and engineer the financial system or technology…to centralise power, that’s not a market economy, that’s not even capitalism, that’s organised crime.” (Fitts).

Returning to Stiglitz’s text The Price of Inequality (2012) and its focused discourse of defining the 1%’s apparatus, a contemporary and scientifically reinforced finger is pointed to those who now dictate an unhealthy and normalised inequality in the US. His conversations are strongly echoed in other economic texts that specifically describe the rise of “Zombie

Austerity” (Stiglitz 2015). In particular, the works of Mendoza and Quiggin mentioned earlier.

Overall, the negative discourse on capitalism appears to focus on the 1% apparatus, that in turn hoards the masses and therefore begins to reflect the zombie imagery as the 99% conforms. Ac- cording to Mendoza, “The real economy is being fed to the zombie economy - a night-of-the-living-dead economy that consumes value and defecates debt” (21). Debt, then, is the distinguishing attribute held by its victims which is now everywhere; national debt, student debt, personal debt.

Somewhere along the line, the notion of what good debt and bad debt was substantially blurred as Section 1: How Zombie Economics Created a Zombie Apparatus Forster 16! credit cards and consequently the ownership of debt became a fashion statement (Park & Burns

135). Despite this problematic, many other aspects of debts symptoms are framed into the public gaze for questioning. Mendoza highlights a type of political/media scapegoating in the media to conceptualise a sociological culture who embraces austerity and the repayment of debt that doesn't even belong to those paying it back (88-106). For instance, the amount paid by the UK government (then cut from the welfare state thereafter) to keep “alive” those banks that managed the debt creation and circulation, amounts to £850 billion. “For this amount the UK could have funded the entire NHS for 8 years, its whole education system for 20 years or provided 200 years of Job Seekers Allowance” (Mendoza 19). In this light, the immoral and self-detrimental aspects displayed by a zombie are strongly reflected in her hypothesis as it becomes clearer where gov- ernmental priorities lie.

The economic figures are disconcerting, although, statistics often don't effectively represent a human reality. With this in mind, consider the following comment from Stiglitz:

Nothing illustrates what has happened more vividly than the plight of today’s twenty-

year-olds. Instead of starting a new life, fresh with enthusiasm and hope, many of them

confront a world of anxiety and fear. Burdened with student loans that they know they

will struggle to repay and that wouldn’t be reduced even if they were bankrupt, they

search for good jobs in a dismal market. If they are lucky enough to get a job, the wages

will be a disappointment, often so low that they will have to keep living with their par-

ents (Stiglitz 2012, 332)

The contemporary position is bleak, and in support of Stiglitz is best spearheaded via the situation of today’s youth. Section 1: How Zombie Economics Created a Zombie Apparatus Forster 17!

Zombie austerity, as a conclusive definition, appears to disregard compassionate and humane aspects of society (the welfare state, education, healthcare, arts) in favour of a “motivation- al instability” to increase personal wealth in the 1% that will supposedly “trickledown” the class system (Mendoza 26-27; Chang 2010, 137; Lorey 9). Indeed, much like a mythological zombie that seeks to consume humane ethics. Nothing is left behind by the 1%, exemplified by the failure of trickledown economics (Chang 2010, 137) and in an even more zombie-nomic fashion, the staggering fact that it is legally allow it to happen (Mendoza 97).

The humanities aspects of market economies have dissolved particularly rapidly over the past three decades as governments have made neoliberal adjustments that favour finance liquidity rather than social mobility (Chang 2010, 260): “.as markets become more short sighted, such human policies (welfare state, arts, academia) no longer seemed profitable” (Stiglitz 2012, 156).

GDP as a communication concept, for instance, is prioritised over statistical happiness and that is hardly ever the other way around (Anholt). Usually it is the case when decreasing happiness becomes an eventual threat to profitability when appropriation towards happiness induced. The economic discourse follows a regime of science first, humanities thereafter (LaTour 86).

Serres has selected one specific moment where culture allowed for their subservience to scientific principles, including the science of economic logic over less tangible humanities thoughts. This moment, captured bellow, created a cultural vortex for all people, not just governments, to now uphold science and its logic as a font of god-like, tangible power. The logic of science was previously undeniable, but after this moment, its logic was universally feared:

Hiroshima was truly the end of one world and the beginning of a new adventure.

Science had just gained such power that it could virtually destroy the planet. That makes

a big impression. Sciences rise to power supposes such a level of recruitment that soon, Section 1: How Zombie Economics Created a Zombie Apparatus Forster 18!

all-powerful, it creates a vacuum around itself. Which is the reason for the sudden decline

of all the surrounding areas of culture - the humanities, arts, religion, even the legal sys-

tem (LaTour 87)

With this moment, according to Serres, humans pivoted towards scientific subservience and away humanities developments and their surrounding areas of culture. This historical event, I would argue, is the origin of zombie austerity; a product of a subservient scientific culture. Be- cause of Hiroshima, humans grew to fear science and as a result are less likely to question it. A destruction of Hiroshima’s magnitude had never previously existed. It is only in natural disasters where you would find a similar death toll, with the exception here being instantaneousness8. The power of nature, for the first time in history, had been beaten by the power of science. When such levels of power are displayed, humans can only become servants to that fearful mythology. Eco- nomics, despite being born as a philosophy for household management in ancient Greece, grew to become a science that emancipates us from dogma and bias. Ironically, it now ensures those very illnesses as that fear became unquestionable truth. Scientific principles became a new type of god when Hiroshima detonated; one who’s logic we feel must be served, respected and prioritised.

The Culture of the Zombie Economy. This scientific vacuum created by Hiroshima as pointed out by Serres (LaTour 87) is contextualised into economics when considering a quote from American investor Warren Buffet, who described 2008’s economics as a financial weapon of mass destruction (Chang 2010, 30). A fear of economics, reaching similar proportions to that

8 "We knew the world would not be the same. Few people laughed, few people cried, most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad-Gita. Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty and to impress him takes on his multi-armed form and says, 'Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.' I suppose we all thought that, one way or another.” Dr Robert Oppenheimer (Plenilune Pictures) Section 1: How Zombie Economics Created a Zombie Apparatus Forster 19! of nuclear weaponry, led to a scientific predominance in the “ideoscape” (ideoscape being the collective, globalised mind) which then out of an interdependency influenced culture (Appadurai

11; Priceto 124)9, then expanded upon in Chang’s economic texts (Chang 2007, 200; Chang

2010, 123) and in Mendoza’s chapter; Creating the Culture that Invites Austerity (86). There are fascinating examples of economic cultural strategy throughout history. For instance, historians agree that Abraham Lincoln’s abolishment of slavery in 1862 was more a cultural strategy to cap- ture minds into winning the war: “Disagreement over trade policy, in fact, was at least as important as, and possibly more important than slavery in bring about the Civil War” (Chang 2007, 54), as tax ideology is significantly less enticing to die for.

Either directly or indirectly influenced, the catalyst to supporting economic policy is emo- tion, a property of culture in the humanities not the sciences, meanwhile: “economics morally transcends the individual” (LaTour 204; Chang 2007, 201). Controlling a humanities vacuum on the other hand is difficult as it is fuelled by a pragmatic type of cause, conceived out of challenging a scientific vacuum. Emily Apter’s The Translation Zone commentated on a humanities vacuum after 9/11, when a lack of western cultural awareness in the Middle East was realised and ma- jor efforts were made to pool those talents (2). Consequently expressions of humanities also need science to actually exist; weather it’s the distribution of literature, a televised speech or in extreme cases an act of terrorism. Contrariwise, some sciences need the creative pragmatism gener- ated by the humanities reacting to such vacuums in the first place. For instance, nuclear weapons and their universally acknowledged depravity, with capitalism following a similar distinction despite its potential to benefit mankind (Chang 2010, 253). Economically, both sciences and the

9 Edouard Glissant outlined a theory of interdependence between all actions and reactions (Priceto 124); the famous chaos theory being a similar example. In tandem, other globalisation theorists, such as Ap- padurai, closed in on categorising that interdependence via the use of “scapes”; ethnoscape, technoscape, finanscape, mediascape and ideoscape (11). The theory here, is that if you infect a financescape with zombie economics, all other preceding scapes will also be affected with zombie-isms out of interdependency. Section 1: How Zombie Economics Created a Zombie Apparatus Forster 20! humanities are completely interdependent. However, letting scientific tools completely manage something outside of its realm diminishes our statuses as humans. Management models, as will be shown in section two, partly facilitate that covert regimentation.

If total subservience is allowed to come into existence we could depart one notion of humanism and become post-human zombies out of fear and compliance; lacking in the right type of pragmatism, creativity and questioning that the sciences need to govern effectively. In tandem,

Serres notes that “Culture, whose job it was too slowly direct these archaisms, risks being destroyed by a science stripped of this function” (LaTour 86). Extreme oppression of humanities economic extensions (welfare states) (Hall 25; Stiglitz 2012, 156) leads to “precarity”, a mass form of social instability posited in Isabella Lorey’s The State of Insecurity (2015): “a nightmare, as a loss of all security, all orientation, all order” (Lorey 1). Nevertheless, the 1%’s logic acts on scientific principles such as economics to best control the enormous scale of their power, something the 99% has not experienced.

If Hiroshima created a vacuum that recruits the talent minds of the world towards science out of fear and compliance, then the zombie economy and its control of culture will grow in effi- ciency. Destroying our humanities extensions (Hall 25) in the form of welfare state (Stiglitz 2012,

158) should create a similar protest type vacuum in favour of the humanities. However, as supported by Mendoza, the zombie economies talented minds have disguised this arching symptom

(88) and in turn limited our capability to “grasp the scope of this emergency” (Enter Shikari)10, supported by Stiglitz who states:

10 “Don't be fooled by it's simplicity. There was never a broadcast made of such urgency. Because at no time before us, did we grasp the scope of this emergency” (Enter Shikari) Enter Shikari is an experimental hip-hop/metal/electronic band. Section 3 discusses rebellious and experimental types of music, with the artists for which perfectly exemplifying precarity in their lyrics. There are several other lyrical objects from these types of artists spread sporadically throughout the paper. Section 1: How Zombie Economics Created a Zombie Apparatus Forster 21!

Citizens can’t make informed decisions as voters if they don't have access to the

requisite information. But if the media are biased, they won't get information that is bal-

anced. And even if the media were balanced, citizens know that the information that the

government discloses to the media may not be (Stiglitz 2012, 160)

In light of this disillusionment, whilst still being a vacuum, the zombie economy has con- vinced its applicants that aspects of destruction are in fact evolution and therefore entirely necessary; a zombies survivability. Without a direct and mainstream resonance to inform precarious masses of this unnecessary vacuum (neoliberalisation of the welfare state and cultural hegemony) the right type of anger and pragmatic emotions embodied in a humanities vacuum has become (in reference to Lorey’s work) a precarious emotive; unsure how to react, develop responses and move forward:

“If we fail to understand precarization, then we fail to understand neither the poli-

tics nor the economy of present…fear of what is not calculable marks the techniques of

governing and subjectivation, merging into an inordinate culture of measuring the im-

measurable” (Lorey 1-2).

The zombie economy sees the precarious and its experimental culture as something to be consumed for its own benefit, not encouraged to develop further. It capitalises upon the fear built from within the zombie economies vacuum, coining it as a competitive market value, making people work harder and longer towards a goal of repaying debts that aren't actually theirs. To that end, highly specific, yet wide spread aspects of potential innovation has been streamlined into the Section 1: How Zombie Economics Created a Zombie Apparatus Forster 22! commodity of risk profiteering, an exceptionally efficient method of evaporating challengers against the status quo.

Complicating matters further is the fact that people are willing to embrace the zombie economy that is in turn trying to consume their value and defecate debt (Mendoza 21). Boltanski and Chiapello in The New Spirit of Capitalism (2005) investigate this willingness further, and offer an “explanation for our continuing, expanding, increasingly global engagement with a system that exploits and damages us, which is due to our absorption of habits and behaviours founded on an ethos developed ‘outside’ capitalism” (Land & Taylor 204).

Land & Taylor take this idea further, and posit that we are currently at a fourth spirit of capitalism exemplified perfectly by today’s Californian liberal techie culture (204)11. Here, life and work blur together, idealising companies built on something resembling dedicated and flexi- ble entrepreneurs rather than regimented employees. If work and life is becoming one, then the fear established by the precariousness of the zombie economy further catalyses its own apparatus of consumption: those desperately seeking a life stability, which is now attached to work, are rarely rewarded with it. The 2008 Great Recession proved this wide spread fallacy with astonish- ing effectiveness. However, Boltanski and Chiapello write that our commitment to capitalism

(and therefore the zombie economy) is formed from something “outside of capitalism”; that being the enjoyment of risk (Land & Taylor 204) and therefore the enjoyment of precarity.

The enjoyment of precarity is, in my opinion, drawn from a fear of knowing exactly where you will be career-wise 40 years down the line. Having your entire work/life planned out

11 “Boltanski and Chiapello’s first spirit is characterized by the bourgeois entrepreneur and his/her bourgeois values, while the second is recognizable by the figure of the bureaucratic manager, embodying the values associated with large-scale, rational organization and management by objectives…The third spirit – the ‘new spirit of capitalism’ that they focus on in their book – sought to appeal to the criticisms of the students of May 1968 by reimagining capitalism in terms of excitement, stimulation and unalienated creativity, albeit at the cost of ‘security’, which was associated with the boring and safe world of bureaucratic, grey-flannel-suited managers from the 1950s” (Land & Taylor 203) Section 1: How Zombie Economics Created a Zombie Apparatus Forster 23! before you is loosing its appeal. Looking back to Stiglitz’s quote: “the plight of today’s twenty- year-olds. Instead of starting a new life, fresh with enthusiasm and hope, many of them confront a world of anxiety and fear [precarity]” (Stiglitz 2012, 332), highlights a paradox. Having left the sheltered security of higher education, they become survivors, not yet consumed by the zombie economy and swayed into ‘permanent’ jobs with the luxurious ‘illusion of security’ (Virno 3612).

These young people now have to adapt to survive within the zombie economy, to enhance their own competitiveness against their peers. Specifically, the young people who can creatively manipulate precarity in their favour could personify a fifth spirit of capitalism.

Precarity and the illusion of security transcends all class systems, even the elites as they anxiously horde wealth from everyone else who is seeking it (Lorey 9). It is a virus (Lorey 51), exceptionally thorough in transmission. While an individual is indeed precarious, that infection is never limited to that specific body. The precarious environment surrounding the individual can be manipulated just as effectively. Judith Butler, the original founder of the precarious discourse writes in Precarious Lives: “We are undone by each other” (Butler 23). This is where we must separate the precarious and the survivors. Once a precariate manipulates their inherently precarious situation, they become survivors; an embodiment of the fifth spirit of capitalism.

Section 1: Conclusion. Now it has been established that the zombie economy creates its own innovational target, the survivor, this thesis will now hone in on the results drawn from the cultural analysis of zombie economics to begin facilitating a pragmatic solution. In order to create this visualisation of reality, it is important to firstly summarise what has been accomplished in this section.

12 We will revisit more of Virno’s thoughts from A Grammar of the Multitude (2009) in detail in section four. Section 1: How Zombie Economics Created a Zombie Apparatus Forster 24!

Primarily, we have confirmed that the zombie economy is not limited to economics. It is embodied and reinforced by many other institutions in the media, as well as politics and education. There is more a culture of zombie-nomics, conjured up by a fearful fascination for the logic of scientific predominance. For example, performing as a master rather than a tool, technology lures people to queue around the block for Apple products as though they were Beatle’s tickets

(Lowensohn & Kerstetter)13. Obsessive consumerism as such, is merely a symptom of zombie economics fuelling its own technocratic favourability.

Chang insists that economic policies formulate the cultures that we live in (Chang 2007,

200). Those scientific prescriptions then address the management procedures for culturally entangled institutions within a society (Lorey 2; Stiglitz 2012, 156). Therefore, it can be asserted that the zombie economy has grown into a zombie apparatus, in regards to a Foucauldian perspective, which entraps a cultural mindset or discipline into fuelling its own cause with no sympathies for the other (Foucault 194).

The problem also creates a solution; however, the solution faces a juncture. As a matter of perspective, when presented with precariousness, the subject could pragmatically embrace its instability as a means of personal development. Such as taking advantage of short term contracts to become interdisciplinary, to travel, to meet other similar minded precariates, to experiment and therefore evolve as means of survival. If one is precarious, then the environment is also as such, and in a better place to be manipulated to improve the precariates prospects. A counter contin- gency would be a subject clinging to illusions of security, partly exemplified by the “Boomerang

Generation”14 (Stiglitz 2012, 18); long term contracts, mal-employment and rejecting any notion

13 One wonders if this fascination will eventually turn into a human right, that the restriction of technology will become an ethical issue and a basic human right, similar to water.

14 Return to the stability of home after high education instead of elsewhere. Section 1: How Zombie Economics Created a Zombie Apparatus Forster 25! of socio-professional mobility. Conclusively, this section has constructed an image in my mind resembling the model bellow, which will be added to as this research progresses per section. For now, this image defines the cultural separation between the zombie cognitive and survivor cognitive, economically known as a “dual economy” (Stiglitz 2012, 362). The section thereafter, lends scope to potential power of simple imagery, such as this, in the right context.

Management Model Phase 1 Section 2: Visual Management Models: Potential Tools for Survivability Forster 26!

Section 2: Visual Management Models: Potential Tools for Survivability

Before continuing the cultural analysis of a dual economy in the zombie context, this thesis must now tangent briefly away from zombie economics to outline potential tools for survivability. If survivability is the fifth spirit of capitalism, then it certainly worth scrutinising the managerial tools that facilitate that type of capitalism; a method used by Boltanski and Chiapello to outline the first, second and third spirits in The New Spirit of Capitalism (2009)15. Moreover, this has been done to provide a worthwhile experimental conclusion that umbrella’s the cries for interdisciplinary solutions thematically layered throughout this thesis. Using the same concepts shown in the first section, visualised management models now face analysis as the modern tools that agent the undead, neoliberal utopia discussed in section one.

To that end, Serres stated in an interview at Stanford University, that the humanities might be the next “dead” idea (Haven). Decolonial philosopher Walter Mingolo in The Darker

Sides of Wester Modernity, theorises what ‘dead’ and ‘deadly ideas’ actually are from a Argentin- ian perspective. The context of his research posits a global vacuum towards the west in terms of knowledge creation, which Mingolo names “zero-point epistemology” (102). This point, as well as regulating, also produces ideas that invades developing nations of the other, with little consideration for any alternative preferences. These, he calls, are “dead” and “deadly ideas”, described as follows:

15 “Via an unprecedented analysis of management texts which influenced the thinking of employers and contributed to reorganization of companies over the last decades, the authors trace the contours of a new spirit of capitalism. From the middle of the 1970s onwards, capitalism abandoned the hierarchical Fordist work structure and developed a new network-based form of organization which was founded on employee initiative and relative work autonomy, but at the cost of material and psychological security” (Boltanski and Chiapello, xi) Section 2: Visual Management Models: Potential Tools for Survivability Forster 27!

A dead idea is an idea whose origins have been betrayed, one that has deviated

from its archetype and thus no longer has any roots in its original cultural plasma. In con-

trast, a deadly idea is an idea that has lost both its identity and cultural value having been

cut of its roots that are left in their original cultural universe (Mingolo 102)

Mingolo’s quotation suggests that the ‘cultural plasma’ for the humanities has deviated.

The humanities ‘cultural plasma’ is to me, the development of thought, creation, art, critique, analysis and aspects that bring to realisation a specific way to engage life with. Banishing such profound objects to death, however, cannot be so simple in reality. Archives, museums, galleries and lectures exist and prevent that destruction. Although, referencing Mingolo’s thoughts detailed above, there is very little descriptive boundary to stop something transforming into a deadly, zombie-nomic idea.

Some ‘deadly ideas’ that have done this, for instance, could be western economics which was originally a philosophy, not a science, born out of the humanities in ancient Greece and is now praised for its moral transcendence. Economists are in a better position to make difficult decisions over society because of their fields’ scientific binary and lack of humanism that, given a chance, may complicate a decision (LaTour 204). Mainstream economics hegemonic implementation that brought about globalisation highlights Mingolo’s loss of “identity and cultural value” (102). Its implementation opposes Serres prescription for survivability: “there is nothing weaker than a global system that becomes unitary. When there is only one law, it means sudden death. The individual lives much better when he becomes numerous: the same with societies or with existence in general” (Serres 14). Adam Smith, the Scottish father of free-market economics invented a system poised from his experiences specifically in the European Enlightenment. This school of European economics was then transferred globally as the system to manage system, Section 2: Visual Management Models: Potential Tools for Survivability Forster 28! with no functioning alternative available today, bringing into effect “one law” (Chang 2010, 253;

Serres 14).

Paradoxically, the humanities that nurtured economics at birth may have to evolve to stay pertinent within it and its utter predominance (Grossberg 1; Haven). In my opinion, the recently popular idea of management models may be an opacity of that very demand; businesses method for facilitating philosophy, culture and creativity in the workplace. Understanding and creating them is an artistic process, also philosophical in reasoning, yet their creation belongs more to the

MBA’s and not the MA’s. The concept is displayed via simple, yet occasionally surreal images around offices, presented in meetings and used to encompass the ideology behind experimental project management (A case study and example of the visualised model “Lean Manufacturing” is present towards the end of this section). Normally, the induction of management models takes place when the complexity around a problem becomes difficult to communicate efficiently. In theorising survivability via a management model, I hope to maintain that clarity. For instance, take into consideration this quote from a management article covering the creation of future models as such:

The whole idea of a management model is to provide a condensed version of real-

ity - one by which managing complexity is facilitated. The search for the one true model

is thus a futile quest since it does not exist [a utopia]. As the famous quality-guru Dem-

ing said: “Every theorem is true in its own world. The question is, which world are we

in?” (Eskildsen et al. 8)

Therefore, it is this papers duty to validate and analyse the object of management models coping with an undead utopia, its ‘shifting plasma’: “the nightmare to which we are slowly Section 2: Visual Management Models: Potential Tools for Survivability Forster 29! marching” (Stiglitz 2012, 362). As they are merely a tool (explained later), their function can be rearranged to benefit survivability.

Visual Management Models: Facilitators of Zombie-ism. When a team of engineers, managers, accountants, marketers and administrators, all from different cultural backgrounds and schools of thought view a management model, they see a universally agreed direction to progress upon despite the complexity of their inevitable preferences. Metaphors in Globalization provides an insight into how this is possible: “a process of creative comparisons or tropes of resemblance between different objects, contexts and/or experiences” (Kornprobst et al. 4) takes place within each individual mind upon viewing such models. Panning across the group of professionals, it can be assured that they have all created a goal remarkably different from the next, yet amazingly, they move forward together as if the thought is unanimous. It is because of these different internal visualisations of perfection, coupled with unanimous agreement that makes the possibility of a utopia feel tangible. However, that unanimous imagery can become reflective of the zombie.

Prepositions of the management model as a metaphor for an undead, utopia is the desire for change: “to have a meaningful life in the minds of men, such a utopia must start with the issue of man-made suffering” (Radhakrishnan 322). In the context of tripartite metaphors as put forward in Metaphors of Globalization, a management model falls initially into the category of

‘mutiny’ (Kornprobst et al. 11) because of its mission to change an old, unsustainable system: “… the issue of man-made suffering” (Radhakrishnan 322). In the zombie economy, the most recent mutinies (post-2008) have replaced real innovation with undead ideas (Stiglitz 2015; Chang

2010, 30; LaTour 87).

“…No matter what the specific motivation may be, the overriding theme is organisational change” (Eskildsen et al. 8). What is changing upon implementation of a management model is Section 2: Visual Management Models: Potential Tools for Survivability Forster 30! the hierarchy of a dysfunctional past that might have facilitated destruction or a system that has become too archaic to be relevant. However, there are further dimensions to this metaphor apart from ‘mutiny’ that are relevant to the object. These other parallels are intriguingly depicted in the form of a management model within Metaphors of Globalisation, further reinforcing the ethos of universality amongst the object:

(Kornprobst et al. 12)

Management models whilst being mutinies are initially built within the ‘mirror’ confine:

“the use of management models as a means to identify opportunities for improvement and change within organisation is called organisational self-assessment” (Eskildsen et al. 5) Self-assessment being the process of scrutinising your current state, a reflection of one’s own organisational problematics. Mendoza’s commentary on the corruption of media outlets in the previous chapter has distorted this option of self reflection (88-106). Furthermore, these models also fall into the category of ‘magician’. “The magician is the agent capable of effecting such a transformation” (Ko- rnprobst et al. 9), which is society: “- believing in the collective - voluntarily subject[ing] themselves to those distorted conditions of society (Lorey 4). Overall, management models shift throughout the universe depicted in Kornprobst’s visualisation. If the object of management mod- Section 2: Visual Management Models: Potential Tools for Survivability Forster 31! els can locate themselves within all aspects of the tripartite, then it is a very powerful metaphor, capable of being accepted and created on many differentiating terms.

However: “they [management models] differ also from common tools in that they are not an object or “a thing” that can be observed or measured. The “tool” only comes “alive” once a person starts using the model” (Eskildsen et al. 8). Whilst the metaphor is transferable and digestible between conflictual minds, there has to be a substantial motivation for a person to conjure a specific set of managerial practices into reality. There is a real sacrifice of the self when a commitment to another process begins as it is not your own thoughts but the guidance of something else. Emphasis on the metaphor certainly assists the digestion as it allows the painting of your own specific notion. That notion, on the other hand, has a preconceived general direction that in turn compliments similar ideas also progressing in that direction; like branches of a tree, interlinking, supporting, and moving forward together.

Consensually advocating for this sacrifice may be part of a larger sociological phenomena in observing the merger between work and life in the zombie apparatus: “This shift has meant two things for what work feels like in offices, shops and factories across the country: an upsurge in the sort of jobs that use our emotions instead of our bodies” (Biggs; Lorey 27). To that end, management models are perhaps a sub-cognitive and emotional counteraction to the work/emotions merger, also discussed in Isabel Lorey’s notion of “precarity” in The State of Insecurity:

…workers, imaginary self-relations of this kind mean that one’s own body is

imagined as the property of the self; it is ones own body that has to be sold as labour

power…in order to reduce precariousness (Lorey 27-28) Section 2: Visual Management Models: Potential Tools for Survivability Forster 32!

Uncertainty as such, is only cured by stability. So perhaps, when a team of professionals engage with a management model that is, according to business texts: “a stable theoretical framework that can be used to observe, create and asses a real life organisational ‘situation’ in order to make the desired (future) improvements” (Eskildsen et al. 4) that cure to embodied precarity becomes available in the workplace. If Lorey’s thoughts are accurate in saying that precarity predominates every modern notion and action then managerial visualisations merely need to present the hope of stability, an aspect to the modern utopia, to ignite a motivated following. The direction of this following, however, could be geared towards survivability; assisting precarious minds to escape zombie-ism.

Drawing particular attention to the word tool for discussions surrounding a management model (Eskildsen et al. 8) and juxtaposing this against the shift of labor from the hands to the mind (Biggs; Lorey 1-2), it can be posited that this ‘tool’ engages the service sector in a highly specific cognitive area; management models are a tool for the mind when facing the complexity of precariousness. As the demands of the zombie economy (displayed in the previous section) entrench people into precarity, models as tools should be readily embraced to little opposition, appeasing against harshening emotional instability. However, this is not the case:

When talking about management models it is important to remember that they are

not a miracle cure in the sense that application will guarantee organisational success.

Applying a management model is hard work that requires dedication, persistency and

courage but if these three prerequisites are present the desired changes are possible (Es-

kildsen et al. 7) Section 2: Visual Management Models: Potential Tools for Survivability Forster 33!

With this problematic and returning to the thoughts of Serres and Grossberg who call for an evolutionary type of art and culture if it is to survive, perhaps management models are the signature to each prescription. A combination of art with management could further ease a managerial induction whilst assisting artistic and cultural studies attempting to avoid a “death” of irrele- vance in the zombie apparatus (Grossberg 1; Haven). For instance, management model ideology is philosophical, a guide to life in a sense, but it also provides “a condensed version of reality - one by which managing complexity is facilitated” (Eskildsen et al. 8). It allows the contemplation contingencies, paradoxes and contradictions around the future of a new idea, to which Serres asks: “What good is philosophy if it doesn't give birth to the world of the future?” (LaTour 79).

Moreover, the engagement is visual and thus potentially exploitable by artists who enjoy providing the journey of discovery. Western cities have already laboriously commanded themselves through simple imagery of the management model kind; informing citizens where to exit in case of emergency, where to drive and park a car (Zizek). In theory, strengthening the visual aesthetics of these repetitive public images may well transcend into stimulating the spirituality of higher consciousness16. Whether that is good or bad given circumstance, the invigoration of the higher consciousness can only aid the aforementioned philosophy taking place, nourishing the creativity and optimism amongst survivability. In counterpart, with arching themes such as precarity taking place, radical and rebellious parallels against that type of reality is bound to take place in some form eventually. If western people are as precarious as Lorey notes (Lorey 1), then implementa- tions of the kind just explained could extend to nations, not just businesses as leaders in the US have believed in the past. “If it’s good for General Motors, it’s good for the US” (Chang 2010,

16 There is a similar trend in the Video Games industry. Compromising visual emphasis, ‘Indie Games’ have pioneered in gameplay design, with nostalgic - HD - surreal 80’s inspired graphics. This section of the industry prides itself on making innovative games that attempt to place the player into a state of higher consciousness that is required solve the problem (hohokum). Section 2: Visual Management Models: Potential Tools for Survivability Forster 34!

190). It isn’t too difficult to imagine a political party presenting, instead of a manifesto, a national goal or ideology encapsulated in a visualised management model similar to this (Schume):

Worse methods for political endorsement have already happened (Hyde)17:

17 Footnote on next page. Section 2: Visual Management Models: Potential Tools for Survivability Forster 35!

A Case Study: Lean Manufacturing. Lean manufacturing, partially depicted in the management model above, is an incredible metaphor for globalisation. The principles of Japanese style management have readily infiltrated many industries as an effective tool to combat the traditionally bureaucratic and structured industries of the west; an overly inherited epitome from the neoliberal induction of the 1970’s and ‘Fordism’18 (Hall 93; Womack 3). The Silicon Valley and its liberal- ist-techie culture for instance have pioneered an American digest of fundamental Japanese management. Open offices, horizontal management and collaborative communication being the buzz elements of a successful modern innovation are in fact traceable back to the Toyota Production

System (TPS) from 1960’s Japan (Womack 3). Once TPS was academically absorbed in the west, its influence spread to aspiring foreign minds that were previously unable to access such inspira- tion. TPS is now known as Lean Manufacturing, since MIT academic James Womack American- ized its ideas in 1991.

The ideas of the Japanese were not compatible with a foreign audience until their opacity was rudimentarily inhaled from the other and exhaled as the self, an embodiment of multicultural coding (Rosello 313). As the ideas of conscious creative, or ‘radical’ change are instinctually met with criticism and rejection (Holt 294; Canavan 3), disguising creative change as an administra- tive method may covertly manipulate a bureaucratic culture into the desired result via its own systems, i.e. management models. My model of survivability, developed further after this section, defeats zombie-ism at its own game. With this method, the target audience achieves an effective

18 Fordism is a management model, then political ideology, built by Henry Ford. As stated in the oxford dictionary defining the term, It upholds ideals of mass production for mass consumption.

17 Labour’s 2015 election campaign for the UK Government attempted many bold strategies to survive. Ed Miliband, pictured above, had his pledges chiseled into lime stone; a supposed reflection of solidarity, then ridiculed by his own party. He also allowed for interviews with famous ‘vloggers’ (comedians, beau- ticians and pop acts) – certainly the first UK politician to really engage with the online community. More interestingly, he embraced an internet ‘Fan-Dom’ amongst teenagers in the UK. Similar to that in pop culture, his face would be superimposed onto the bodies of boxers, superhero’s and celebrities, with young girls in particular tweeting about their crush on the party leader. (Hyde) Section 2: Visual Management Models: Potential Tools for Survivability Forster 36! state of rudimentariness to the changes (Rosello 313), allowing their disposition to be adhered to with a limited repulsion.

If metaphors in the context of globalisation “provide (new) vocabularies that make political and social change intelligible” (Kornprobst et al. 2), then lean manufacturing, and with it management models overall, are certainly a pragmatic embodiment. An “established metaphor

[that] can and may have in turn a self-reinforcing effect, shaping not only how to perceive the world but also how we act and react to it.” (Kornprobst et al. 2).

Lean manufacturing has accomplished self-reinforcement in the metaphor context to ex- ceptional standards. Despite being initially created to manage automobile production, its concepts have infiltrated entire enterprises, formulating corporate cultures for behemoth organisations such as Rolls-Royce, Nike and Intel (Hanna). Referring back to the earlier imagery, notice at the

‘heart’ of the wheel is an allocation of metaphors deemed to be ‘wasteful’. These are ‘Transport,

Inventory, Motion, Waiting, Over-Processing, Overproduction and Defects’. The powerful metaphor in the etymology of the term ‘waste’ is so because it can be assigned to whatever is deemed appropriate by an individual. For instance, transport between cities must be quicker as that excess time is waste for the economy, or transporting yourself between a laptop to a printer is wasteful for the progress of your workload. Another metaphor is conveyed via the interlocking circle, known in Lean schools of thought as ‘continuous improvement’: if your new system doesn't interlock or guarantee automatic replenishment via organisational bodies - much like a

Foucauldian apparatus (Foucault 194) - then it isn't worth implementing. The fact that these words are at the centre of the image is not a coincidence, taking the etymology of ‘Lean’; lack of excess, and then comparing it with the excessive consumption idealised in post ford-ism, the politics of different US eras emerges. Section 2: Visual Management Models: Potential Tools for Survivability Forster 37!

Section 2: Conclusion. “Some metaphors fall by the wayside” (Kornprobst et al. 2), as proven with Fordism, “while others become so deeply entrenched and taken for granted, that their metaphorical status is forgotten” (Kornprobst et al. 2; Womack 3). In the Oxford Dictionary, economics was initially a metaphorical reference to household management in ancient Greece, now imbedded as an irrevocable epistemology to manage life and its quality. Therefore, if management models remain solely a product of scientific schools of thought, who:

...ever more forcefully, recruits the best intellects, the most efficient technical and

financial means. As a result science finds itself in a dominant position, at the top of the

heap, as we say, single-handedly, preparing the future and in a position to occupy more

and more territory. Powerful and isolated, it runs - or could run and make others run grave

risks. Why? Because it knows nothing about culture. As Aesop said about language, sci-

ence has become by far the best and perhaps the worst side of things....henceforth we are

in danger because culture, whose job it was too slowly direct these archaisms, risks being

destroyed by a science stripped of this function (LaTour 86)

Preconditions of precarity, work/life mergers and universal metaphorical resonance, then, are still lacking the correct appealing texture to meet the demands of the modern human subject without friction. With this, I would like to return to the earlier point that management models are of the MBA’s and not the MA’s, and that interdisciplinary thought could forge evolutionary types of survivability via the object. Serres reinforces this prognosis, in saying that when disciplines are segregated, they reinvent only themselves rather than help each other: Section 2: Visual Management Models: Potential Tools for Survivability Forster 38!

Even the analytical school is still and endlessly refining questions already re-

solved or asked in the eighteenth century in the French-Language texts or in the Middle

Ages in universities using Latin or Greek antiquity in the sophist schools. When philoso-

phy is trapped in academia it doesn’t move much. What continues perennially is the insti-

tution whose function remains the reproduction of obedient young people. One could say

that it imposes a method (LaTour 45)

This ‘method’, also a Foucauldian apparatus (Foucault 194), entraps different schools of thought to ridicule each other for lack of relevance to each other, thereby imposing further segregation. They critique the opposition, but rarely merge. Perhaps this is the reason why management models fail to resonate without enforcement upon humans despite the unprecedented demand for exactly that type of cognitive evolutionary progress. The humanities are not yet a dead specialism (Haven). In fact, it is in a far better place to manage, inspire and lead than ever before with even mainstream capitalist publications such as The Economist bellowing out for that type of creativity now almost void in enterprise:

The only way to become a real thought leader is to ignore all this noise and listen

to a few great thinkers. You will learn far more about leadership from reading Thucy-

dides’s hymn to Pericles than you will from a thousand leadership experts. You will

learn far more about doing business in China from reading Confucius than by listening

to culture consultants (Ryder) Section 2: Visual Management Models: Potential Tools for Survivability Forster 39!

This thesis will take steps to create a management model that metaphors the humanities in the context of survivability (with the conclusive elements of each section visualised accordingly); an interdisciplinary visualisation consisting of economic theory, philosophy and cultural analysis.

Current management models are used to facilitate universal conformity to one particular ideal, usually that of profitability. The model built here will metaphor survivability, rather than zombie- ism, with the following section now adding to the creation. Section 3: The Zombie Apparatus and Survival Thinking Forster 40!

Section 3: The Zombie Apparatus and Survival Thinking

Dual Economy: Dual Apparatus;

At the bottom are millions of young people alienated and without hope. I have

seen that picture in many developing countries; economists have even given it a name, a

dual economy, two societies living side by side, but hardly knowing each other, hardly

imaging what life is like for the other…it is the nightmare to which we are slowly march-

ing (Stiglitz 2012, 362)

Now that phase one has visualised the Zombie Apparatus, Stiglitz draws our attention to one specific point in a person’s life, shortly after graduation where two possibilities are presented.

You are either ‘lucky’, and land a sustainable job relevant to your degree. Or, you are ‘unlucky’ and become mal-employed in a job that requires no university education, perhaps then forced into masters level education described as what a bachelor’s degree was in the 70’s (Crotty). Further- more, “the bad luck of entering the labour force in a year of high unemployment shows up in the lifelong earnings of these individuals” (Stiglitz 2012, 15). The illusive stability of a graduate career and comparatively, a path of precarity is where we can begin to see a separation between a zombie culture and a survivor culture. Although, this is just one junction, an exemplification that denotes the separation between one way of thinking and another. In a dual economy, there are two societies. Section one outlined the zombie economy and its forged apparatus. This section will focus on finding different types of survival ideology that challenges that apparatus, with precarity as the best lead. Section 3: The Zombie Apparatus and Survival Thinking Forster 41!

The precarious mal-employed graduate is more likely to face acceleration towards survival thinking because of the increased challenges they now face, striving towards whatever goal they deem appropriate. This junction, nevertheless, is far more tangible because of its infamy in post-graduate societies. There are many other instances that highlight a resurgence of survival thinking in different life passages, classes, professions and cultural movements. These instances can be far more obscure, but still, precarity imbeds in all people (Lorey 19) not just specific student demographics. It is a unanimous, yet covert crisis. The dual apparatus separates the precarious, who are aware and experiencing this crisis, away from those who can only sense its opaci- ties.

With its enormity and opacity, the zombie apparatus is highly capable of reaching into many aspects of life as this section will now explore. Often limiting innovative thought, it also unwittingly spurs on cultural discourses and counteractions. We can begin to understand the enormity of the zombie apparatus when looking at its intrusions, violations and influences on schools of thought far from economics; such as government policy paradigms, educational psychology and counter-cultural movements.

In 2009, Professor David Nutt was sacked from his UK parliament advisory position because he opposed government with new confirmed evidence that suggested cannabis to be far less damaging to a person’s health instead of alcohol and tobacco. After which: “He was asked to go because he cannot be both a government adviser and a campaigner against government policy

(Johnson, MP: Member of Parliament). The contradiction here, is that Professor Nutt was dis- missed for essentially doing his job well. Society created rolls such as that of Professor Nutt for a reason: “to slowly direct these archaisms, [and now] risks being destroyed by a science stripped of this function” (LaTour 86). A zombie consumed a survivor, undeterred by their potential inno- Section 3: The Zombie Apparatus and Survival Thinking Forster 42! vation. The word mentioned by Serres above, archaism, is a key term for labelling the zombie that in all eventuality, outlives a survivor and is thus inherently old fashioned.

While Professor Nutt’s instance is fairly prolific in the public eye, zombie-isms can also operate on far more discrete levels. When looking for highly specific examples of zombie-isms, it is worth reaffirming that zombie-ism is highly dependent on one’s own individual experiences and opinions. For me, dyslexia19, is a different way of thinking and learning that could be ex- plored more, rather than being viewed as something to be normalised: ”..Dyslexia represents a paradox, particularly in our society, where reading is often taken as a proxy for intelligence. It is assumed if you are a good reader you are also highly intelligent, and if you struggle to read you must not be so smart” (“About Dyslexia”). Dyslexia is supposed to become obvious in children of ages around 12. At discovery, disability services in many developed countries provide tutoring, technological support and extra time in examinations to level the playing field between dyslexic and non-dyslexic students. If dyslexia is not discovered at this point, and the person continues through education with this disability, studies have shown that their problem solving abilities increase significantly. They subconsciously attempt to adapt to the pace of their peers as the severity of their dyslexia does not dissipate with maturity (Neurol 363). Moreover, dyslexic students often tend to be above average to highly intelligent. This brings to question if dyslexia services are helping or limiting original and potentially revolutionary ways of thinking by imbedding conformity into students that are part of an incredibly problematic western education system (Pre- ston). Psychological paradox’s that could in fact be limiting survivor thinking, such as this, are already well established20. Here, we can begin to understand the enormity of the zombie apparatus as it reaches into fields far from economics such as child education and psychology.

19 Something that I struggle with.

8. The Psychopath Test, Jon Ronson (2011) Section 3: The Zombie Apparatus and Survival Thinking Forster 43!

However, popular culture within the zombie apparatus can also reward, establish and profit from some types of survival thinking that actually directly challenge the zombie apparatus at its own proportions. Cultural movements such as: “…music, a form of cultural expression that has a very important role in the social construction of reality…one of the oldest rituals of human kind” (Hormigos 91).

In the 1970’s, The Sex Pistols first released No Future and God Save the Queen, challenging institutions for obsessive consumerism and economic injustice, at first banned by the BBC and the Independent Broadcastings Agency. Prolific anger in mainstream music against the estab- lishment started here, pointed specifically towards neoliberalist agenda’s, Mendoza’s dawn of zombie economics (Franklin 115; Mendoza 14). Before this point, western music held back from screamed vocals and distortion, but has since grown in complexity and aggression. Modernly, sometimes compared to experimental jazz technically and structurally, punk metal’s musical developments since it’s The Sex Pistols origins has mirrored that of technocratic complexities21.

Since the 1970’s, punk, then inspiring the creation of metal, underscores the anguish imposed on working and middle classes societies; both genres still being notably rebellious sub-cultures. With the millennial emergence of artists (and new genres) such as Periphery (Djent), The

Dillinger Escape Plan (Experimental, Progressive Metal) The Chariot (Christian Hardcore) and overall genres such as Mathcore - named after the mathematical complexity in its time signatures

- subconsciously challenges the technocratic and political “noise” felt through the so called “developed nations” (Franklin 115; Brown 4; Serres 32). In reference to the first section, a humanities vacuum versus a technocratic, scientific vacuum. Before the 1970’s, western popular music

21 From the 70’s and leading to present day, technological advancements have only aided the aforementioned complexities in technocracies governing society. Panning out to view this development, in my opinion, the spirits of these rebellious musicians seem to mirror that same noise of complexity that gave birth to the genre in the first place (Chang 2010, 168; Brown 4; Serres 32). As the numbers managing society grew in complexity, so did the reaction genres of punk and metal. Section 3: The Zombie Apparatus and Survival Thinking Forster 44! consisted of cleaner vocals and undistorted instrumentation, the traditional tone for centuries in many of these cultures (Franklin 117). When zooming out to view this time scale, this recent acceleration towards directly challenging, angrier sounds could mark a significant shift in the human mindset. A precarious response from ancient creative outlets born and dedicated to critiquing neoliberalism, technocracy and norms in general. According to Serres, this ‘humanities’ vacuum

“deals with the founding role of noise and disorder in the production of order” (Brown 4) as we attempt to decode large and complex aspects of precarity.

The amount of potential examples of survival thinking (something original, but doesn't conform within archaism) are unquantifiable as they are experienced by everyone who has ever questioned the order of anything in their lives. Lorey’s work supports this in stating how precarious nature transcends social barriers: “It is not only work that is precarious and dispersed, but life itself” (9). The similar hypothesis between these examples of survivability (policy advocation, the problematic approach to dyslexia and musical movements) is that they are counter humanities vacuums reacting to Serres’s technocratic Hiroshima vacuum (LaTour 87). They are commonly rejected by the society that facilitated them and then labelled their meaning as ideas of the other that must, in turn, be conformed or consumed. The populous rise of the zombie discourse, and the ease of assigning its negative connotations to almost anything (Saunders 94) is exemplary of the magnitude of the zombie apparatus, and with it, western culture. Although what is zombie to a survivor is different per individual perspective. However, unanimously, everyone can theorise something from their experiences that is archaic, stubborn, detrimental and zombie-nomic.

Stiglitz’s clear and poignant example of the university graduates situation is the economic figurehead to what survival thinking is as graduates now have to adapt and essentially fight much harder for their desired goal (Stiglitz 2012, 156). This goal, however, could be more of an illusion that will be discussed in section four. In the meantime, we will focus on analysing the cultural Section 3: The Zombie Apparatus and Survival Thinking Forster 45! identity and nature of survival thinking against zombie thinking, which displays and intercon- nects the dual apparatus of both schools of thought.

Types of Thinking. Survivor thinking and zombie thinking is not a binary. As this section will show, both are interconnected and serve each other whilst being profoundly different. With this regard, it’s safer to imagine a spectrum, rather than a binary self/other , and that a survivor wouldn't be a survivor if it wasn't for the existence of a zombie. The management model at the end of section one denotes a survivor acknowledging the existence of the zombie apparatus; drawn out of precarity and the zombie economy. However, to further enhance the managerial

‘tool’, the thought process of survivability and its difference is yet to be defined. Two theorists,

Lorey and Mingolo, converge to help define the these types of pragmatic thought (Mingolo), and the magnitude of that survival thought taking place in western society (Lorey).

In The Darker Side of Western Modernity (2011), Mingolo describes two types of thinking on the world scope. Humanitas and anthropos, are thinking descendants separated in definition by colonialism. Humanitas being western, colonial and imperial, with the zombie apparatus being one of its extensions (Hall 25; Mendoza 86; Mingolo 114). Conversely the anthropos is the op- pressed; queer, black, female, developing nations and in this researches context, the survivor

(Mingolo 114). Mingolo suggests that the next step towards eliminating oppression of the anthropos, and with it the limitation of potential innovation, is for non-westerns to commit to decolonial scientia:

…”decolonial scientia” is embraced by people who either suffer the consequence

of the colonial wound or by those who, not having had that experience, have experienced Section 3: The Zombie Apparatus and Survival Thinking Forster 46!

the violence of science and embrace the decolonial option not to become a new saviour

but to twist the politics of knowledge in which they were educated… (Mingolo 114),

So long as the humanitas allows the anthropos to do so on their own terms (complexities covered in the fourth section), although as history has proven, the humanitas seems incapable of leaving be in this way. That being said, in my opinion, a non-western decolonial scientia is exactly the type of upheaval that must firstly occur in western society (consider the emergence and then impact of The Sex Pistols, for instance). That cognitive, would in turn allow for the end of oppression imposed by the western zombie apparatus. The survivors cognitive approach, theo- rised in this research, is the western counterpart to Mingolo’s non-western decolonial scientia.

Consequently, survival thinking may destabilise the “zero point epistemology” (Mingolo 124), oppressing the thoughts of the non-western, then allowing the anthropos to develop thought and culture on their own terms22.

Drawing specific attention to Mingolo’s thoughts on “the violence of science” (114), in comparison with the economical devastation drawn out in section one; the western survivor is a victim of an economical science. Here, a merger with Lorey’s commentary on “The Virus of Pre- carity" (53) takes place, that being, the economical/political illness spreading through western society that unravels the welfare state, the arts, the academy; all emerging symptoms from a “violence of science” (114; Stiglitz 2012, 156). Violence, after all, can be implemented emotionally, psychologically, as well as physically23. Precarity as a virus, is a rapidly spreading emotional re-

22 The UK, for instance, has recently lost influence on the world stage because of an identity crisis and internal political turmoil (BBC) In theory, enhancing survivability would further limit the meddling neo- colonial hand.

23 For instance, military tacticians use simply the noise of low flying fighter jets to deter an opponent without any physical force and this is usually extremely effective. Its particular interesting that many ma- jor sporting events utilise such flyovers to enforce patriotism. However, I cannot help shake the thought that there might be other reasonings; an instillation of fear, either direct or indirect upon populations. Section 3: The Zombie Apparatus and Survival Thinking Forster 47! sponse drawn from the anxiety felt confronting the economical violence of western society. Its rapid and wide spread emergence deters the precarious from challenging that type of violence; apparently, the status quo. However, survivors confront that ‘normality’ nonetheless where as the precarious do not.

The virus of precarity, underscored by a generalised anxiety, has spread at the magnitude that it has because, returning to Butler: “We are undone by each other” (Butler 23). The speed of a zombie virus in popular media metaphors that interconnection, with more recent depictions ac- celerating the contagion. In popular media, zombies now sprint to towards the survivors, a marked departure from their original and iconic hobble. In highlighting this vastly infectious anxiety, it must be dissected to a much closer degree in effort to understand the state of insecurity.

Anxiety, not in metaphor, is a biological mechanism that humans encounter when presented with danger, similar to adrenaline in the face of death. Anxiety is the stepping stone towards adrenaline24, a warning sign that something could be very wrong before the emergency takes place. What I would like to posit in metaphor, is that those facing anxious, precarious lives are about to engage with adrenaline that would truly make the precarious, survivors; wishing to escape or drastically alter their environment. The zombie apparatus is incredibly efficient at keeping the powerful word of survivor and its adrenaline away from those that feel the anxiety. It imposes more so feelings of self-failure rather than strength for undergoing this lifestyle (Stiglitz

2012, 129; Foucault 194). The zombie apparatus enjoys the economical productivity of anxiety, but consumes those with it before it can flourish into the power of adrenaline and survivability.

Mingolo’s “violence of [economical] science” (114), is the intimidation game that secures anxiety in its present location; not unified. Lorey calls this; “precarisation as an instrument of

24 We will analyse the metaphor of adrenaline (that is, a metaphor for Pablo Virno’s “opportunism” in Grammar of the Multitude (2009)) and its resonance in the following section. For now, we must focus on anxiety, the precursor to adrenaline. Section 3: The Zombie Apparatus and Survival Thinking Forster 48! governing” (63). Despite being a departure from precarity, survivability may also be one of those radical cognitive innovations, that;

“…cannot be unified or represented, their interests are so disparate that classical

forms of corporate organising are not effective…in all their differences, the precarious

tend to be isolated and individualised [oppressing survivability from uniting]…There are

no lobbies or forms of representation for the diverse precarious” (Lorey 9).

Precarity and the ever developing spirits of capitalism will make the survivor enter the gaze prematurely, as anxiety, because of the merger between work and life (Biggs; Lorey 77).

This merger locates and consumes innovative anxiety before it becomes the revolutionary adrenaline of a survivor. It does this by deceiving the precarious with the illusion of choice. That illusion of choice is becoming increasingly concerning. Societies genuinely believe that they are in charge of their own thoughts and that they are capable of keeping them secret despite the work/ life merger. Stiglitz’s chapter 1984 is upon us in The Price of Inequality (2012) lends scope into the problematic.

In contradistinction to the reality that perceptions and preferences can be shaped,

mainstream economics assumes that individuals have well-defined preferences and fully

rational expectations and perceptions. Individuals know what they want. But in this re-

spect, traditional economics is wrong. If it were true, there would be little scope for ad-

vertising (184) Section 3: The Zombie Apparatus and Survival Thinking Forster 49!

Essentially, what this means is that survivors can exist without knowing that they are survivors, having been trained to pursue what the zombie apparatus advertises for them to pursue.

They are survivors playing by, but twisting rules of the zombie apparatus rather than breaking them; then being deemed too revolutionary to conform. Expanding on Mingolo, they utilise a western decolonial scientia, and these unknowing survivors could be our artists, writers, musicians and self-made entrepreneurs. These professions sell a ‘twisted politics of knowledge’ about the zombie apparatus, to the zombie apparatus (Mingolo 114). This fuels its preposition, rather than directly assisting or physically altering its discourse. Experimental/Pop/Metalcore band

Dance Gavin Dance, lyric an economical, survival motivation of: “I go broke when I assume I suck” (Dance Gavin Dance), which posits the turmoil of experimenting with art forms in a professional capacity. Undergoing experimental professions opaquely mimics survivability. Howev- er, they are yet to fully become a self-aware survivor who seeks to dismantle the zombie apparatus rather than serve its cause of profitability and consumption.

Maintaining self-aware survivability in zombie-ism, nevertheless, leads onto some interesting assertions. Visualise the scenes in zombie popular media where the survivors disguise themselves as zombies to walk amongst the undead masses. They are still self aware survivors, but they manipulate the precarious situation pragmatically for their own gain. Once they have ar- rived at their goal, they ‘de-zombie’ to become whole survivors again having achieved something they did not have before. This conception entails upholding the survival ideology away from the gaze of the zombie apparatus, despite following its rules temporarily to get to a more powerful position than what was available previously. A better position to execute your revolutionary survivability.

Consider the possibility of a survivor conforming with the zombie apparatus for decades.

They may come to accept that that way is the norm until they are at helm of the zombie appara- Section 3: The Zombie Apparatus and Survival Thinking Forster 50! tus. In appraisal, consider the other survivors that may have been crushed in difficult situations for only one to get ahead: how meaningless is that type of survivability when you are in control of hordes of undead extensions, unable to forge any type of innovation; the property of a survivor. This is where we must further dissect and separate the survivor cognitive that currently operates within the zombie apparatus, to be covered in the fourth section.

Section 3: Conclusion. On one hand, there are self-aware survivors who manipulate precarity in their favour and can maintain their gaze status in the eyes of the zombie apparatus. Un- knowing survivors, on the other hand, operate on a more self-serving station within this apparatus; artists, writers, musicians and entrepreneurs: providing a zombies course of consumption.

Both operate on scientia decolonial, twisting the rules of the zombie apparatus in their favour

(144). However, despite the similarity in thinking, the unknowing survivors are still a part of the zombie apparatus serving its cause rather than changing it; precariates seeking stability. Self- aware survivors purposefully seek to dismantle zombie-ism no matter the cost to themselves

(there are different tactics to this, discussed in section four). Although similar, a survivor that is self-aware of their capabilities is an ideological emigrant from the apparatus of precarity and those survivors still entrapped there.

It is impossible to locate these self-aware survivors are because of their capability to manipulate gaze, hiding amongst the zombie apparatus that seeks their revolutionary cognitive ability. For instance, Professor Nutt may well have been a self-aware survivor, burrowing deep into the political sphere and into a position of power to release challenging scientific ideology; something he could not have achieved in early stages of his career. Similarly, what if Russell Brand’s comedic stardom was a planned narrative to gaining a platform for promoting a revolutionary agenda against the zombie apparatus? (Petersen wrote how “Russell Brand [is] Worlds 4th Most Section 3: The Zombie Apparatus and Survival Thinking Forster 51!

Influential Thinker”)25 The probably is that neither of these examples actually are true in this way, they are ideas of the possibility. We must also note that the zombie apparatus is unwittingly good at suppressing new and innovative types of thinking. Such as the conformity rather than en- couragement imposed on dyslexia.

Expanding upon and considering; the origins of the survivor, the virus of precarity, an entire generation of mal-employed/well educated graduates and ‘the rise of the creative class’ (Flor- ida 1) notions that masses of long term covert survivors, at all levels of infrastructure rivalling the power of the zombie apparatus is more than a possibility. The contemporary philosophical discourse exhibits a factual growing dissatisfaction with zombie-ism, enforced by prominent economic literature that only skims that surface (Lorey; Stiglitz; Chang; Mendoza). If such an infil- tration is already present, another event similar to Hiroshima in a generation’s time would be enough to conjure a simultaneous survival revelation amongst Mingolo’s humanitas. It would also allow the anthropos to strive while the humanitas is caught in its own turmoil. The Sex Pis- tols were not a one off reflection of what popular culture was feeling at that specific time. That category of punk spirit has been more than maintained. Its noise has evolved with an increasingly complex culture of misguided frustration (Mendoza 88-106; Brown 4). Taking that rebellious stamina and classifying its existence means that long term survivors avoiding the gaze is also possible; decades in waiting.

In regards to the concluding management visualisation for this section (phase 2) the key thought segregations are in-between the zombie apparatus and the self-aware covert survivors within its infrastructure; observing and critiquing its operational capacities for weaknesses. Even

25 Russel Brand’s “The Trews” began as a short comedic breakdown of the days most right wing head- lines. Since then, it has grown into an enterprise for a revolutionary agenda. Its popularity can only infer a common dissatisfaction, critiquing the monarchy, democracy and capitalism in general. Brand has been interviewed by many of the political elite, including leaders of the opposition, often with him ‘winning’ the debate against infamously harsh intellectuals (Petersen) Section 3: The Zombie Apparatus and Survival Thinking Forster 52! though survivors may not be able to thoroughly unify, their ‘noise’ still proves their distinctive existence as the first part of this section has shown (Lorey 9; Brown 4). As well as visualising the survivors culture, separated from the zombie by the dual apparatus, the concluding management model for this section adds a ‘noise filter’, in homage to Serres, to separate those two types of thought (Brown 4). Serres’s work in Genesis (1982) “deals with the founding role of noise and disorder in the production of order” (Brown 4). In other words, for a survivors creativity to truly flourish it must be born out of the chaos of navigating the virus of precarity. On the other hand, the zombie apparatus, thriving on bureaucracy and technocracy as a recreation of human culture

(Brown 112), definitively administrates noise and its chaos before it has had the time to create

(Kamenka et al xi). Therefore, the resulting management model must create space for both noises to be displayed, as well as their segregation.

Management Model Phase 1 (Recap)

Section 3: The Zombie Apparatus and Survival Thinking Forster 53!

Management Model Phase 2 Section 4: Survival Thinking and Its Environment Forster !54

Section 4: Survival Thinking & Its Environment

Survivability Introduction. Although still a part of the zombie apparatus and serving its cause by not tackling its intrinsic lack of humanity, unknowing survivors (still precariates) con- tain the appropriate characteristics to be effective self-aware survivors; the same aspects described by Mingolo as decolonial scienta (144). Nevertheless, the main catalyst and breaking point that pushes an anxious precariate into survivability, as depicted previously, is adrenaline.

Less metaphorically, philosophers have conceptually represented the adrenaline metaphor outside of the zombie context as ‘opportunism’ (Conley 35; Lorey 88), to be discussed in this chapter.

In the zombie metaphor, adrenaline hardwires the body to think fast, increase strength, reduce feelings of pain, heighten senses: availed to ensure survival in a dangerous scenario. Its release is impossible to control and being surrounded by constant precarity only ensures its eventual deliverance. Humans can control adrenaline only after its induction, with the recommended prescription being to come to terms with and focus on the situation that created the outburst; ra- tionalising the threat and assessing reason. Problematically, the immersive precarity that transcends in the zombie apparatus is also equally equipped to tackle a now self-aware survivor. Pop- ular media would depict a moment when a person (not yet aware of zombie-ism) lurks silently through a quiet, dangerous area and then engages with adrenaline to take down a single zombie.

Accordingly, a survivor’s noise (now separated in the management model depicted in the previous chapter), alerts other neighbouring zombies and lures them to the attack zone (the managerial

‘noise filter’ prevents this). Had the survivor controlled his adrenaline, focused on the situation and rationalised their instincts, this escalation could have been avoided and a self-aware survivor would have emerged. Section 4: Survival Thinking and Its Environment Forster !55

This chapter will focus on describing the different types of survivability in the post-adrenaline - ‘opportunism’ - zombie discourse. However, the first thing to underscore is that nobody is a zombie. As an apparatus, the zombie is reflected within the extensions of man (Hall 25); infrastructures, institutions, capitalism (Foucault 194; Lauro & Embry 99) - imaginative ideologies that serve as a reflection of the human, but are in fact departed from a human and because of this are undead. For instance, you cannot murder the internet because it is not alive. Although we certainly perform in that way, providing it with more security, care, debate and time in general than society does to humans. But how can humans navigate this shifting priority safely? Lorey states that:

Specific self-techniques need to be developed, with the help of which the condi-

tions of precariousness can be influenced. In this sense the entire population must become

biopolitical subjects…to reduce the vulnerability…in order to ensure on average an eco-

nomically productive life (27)

What is needed, then, is a new type of pragmatic emotional tactic to engage with the precarious zombie apparatus: survival ideology. However, as the previous section concluded, there are different approaches to survival ideology to be covered in this chapter using examples drawn from the media and contemporary popular culture.

Covert Self Aware Survivors - Rise of the Anti-Hero/Fall of the Bad Guy. In television,

The Walking Dead only scratches the surface of the zombie discourse. Many other popular broad- casts suitably, and therefore more successfully, convey the sociopolitical cognitive of survivability. The breaking of the fourth wall gimmick in House of Cards is an exceptionally effective tool Section 4: Survival Thinking and Its Environment Forster !56 that demands attention from its audience, and it also for the purposes of this research, radiates the ideology of a covert self-aware survivor. Frank Underwood operates within the realms of the zombie apparatus, yet he has his own agenda that he makes clear to us, but keeps it away from the gaze of his universe. Moreover, he has successfully kept it covert throughout his entire career, manipulating the precarity of countless situations to gain a powerful position within the zombie apparatus. Although his agenda is unclear and at times monstrous, the potential is vast if it is at hands of someone wishing to implement positive change.

Panning away from House of Cards, the rise of the anti-hero in general denotes something revolutionary in its dedicated viewership. Breaking Bad for instance, tells the story of a man going against society and we are fascinated by these actions. House of Cards and Breaking Bad both have in common a protagonist that is going against everything that the zombie apparatus tells them to stand for and only the audience is initially aware of their endeavours. Even further, Frank

Underwood, Walter White, Tony Soprano (“Made in America”) and Dexter Morgan (“Pilot”) have successfully ignored the illusions presented by the zombie apparatus. They are self-aware survivors instilling considerable amounts of innovation (to negative causes, but nonetheless innovative), sustainable only because of their covert nature in that universe. There is an admiration of their capability to keep a secret away from the zombie apparatus.

A modern fascination with secrecy is self-exponent, from why do people want to take pictures of themselves with the Queens Guards to the success of WikiLeaks. Even more interestingly, if that is the case, people attempt to draw their personalities out and the process is enjoyable

(The Julian Assange ‘affairs’, marks this perfectly after the success of Wikileaks26). The pleasure

26 After several mainstream releases by Wikileaks, Julian Assange, the organisations figure head was ac- cused of sexually abusing two women in Sweden, with no evidence apart from hearsay brought to the ta- ble (Wikileaks; “We Steal Secrets”). Section 4: Survival Thinking and Its Environment Forster !57 in discovering a secret feels similar, in this researches context, to when a survivor discovers the cure to a zombie.

The protagonists that populate the central plots of these TV shows are bad people to begin with; an exception to this would be Walter White (“From Mr. Chips Into Scarface” (McInness)).

Albeit, being capable of even considering to become a drug dealer in the first place rather than more logically asking his billionaire friends or senior DEA agent upper-middle class brother-in- law puts him into that category. The rise of the anti-hero, is more so in my opinion the audience enjoying the fall of a bad guy, the revealing of their secret. It is fundamentally identical to the traditional cinematic notions of a good ending having eliminated the bad; a reimagining of established conventions to replace a lack of upheaval, now purposefully classified by survivability.

The rise in popularity of watching the bad guy fall, serves as an excellent metaphor for audiences questioning the legitimacy of their society and the desire to see it fall as it only prolongs our precarity (Larabee 1131; Saunders 80; Lorey 64). Perhaps this craving for demolition hints at a vast subconscious public yearning to find a cure for the zombie apparatus that entraps western society.

Self-aware survivors who can remain covert under this demanding - almost to the point of paranoid - gaze of society that lusts for hidden meanings and revelations are well accomplished.

Returning to House of Cards, imagine if Frank Underwood’s goal was to safely dismantle the neo-colonialism of the USA. Decades of career building in a malicious environment is the nobili- ty that I would expect of a resilient and versatile covert self-aware survivor. Serres stats that “the more you oppose on another, the more you remain in the same framework of thought” (LaTour

81). One of Frank Underwood’s core characteristics in House of Cards is the removal of his out- ward opposition, thus allowing the framework of thought to progress while he distances and analyses for weakness in the new discourse, steering and taking credit when necessary. Section 4: Survival Thinking and Its Environment Forster !58

Combined, Breaking Bad and House of Cards also represents the depth of precarity within society as similar themes of instability and opportunism transcend into different classes and social levels. Walter being working/middle-class and Frank being upper class. Both protagonists in these objects are exemplary of Pablo Virno’s description of “opportunists” (Conley 35), reacting to immersive precarity. Virno explains that opportunisms “lie in an outside-of-the-workplace so- cialisation marked by unexpected turns, perceptible shocks, permanent innovation, and chronic instability [precarity]. Opportunists are those that confront a flow of ever-interchangeable possibilities” (Conley 35). For Walter White and Frank Underwood, crime is merely a means to an end in regards to interchangeable possibilities - an equal and justifiable reaction to the hardships for- matted by the zombie apparatus.

Interlinked with opportunism, Lorey analyses Virno’s take on the Aristotelian tripartite division of the human experience in analysing his notion of virtuosity (virtuosity meaning the act of creative performance) (Lorey 75). Aristotle's three engagements with life: “labour means the production of new objects in a repetitive, foreseeable process…the intellect, isolated and invisi- ble by its very nature…eludes the gaze of others…Finally…that of political action, affects social relations” (Lorey 75). Swiftly, Lorey then combines Virno with Arendt thoughts on virtuosity before concluding that “all virtuosity is intrinsically political” (77). While that may be so, Walter and Frank’s virtuosity is injected more into their intellectual abilities - towards opportunism - hence the series’ successful focus on secrecy that “eludes the gaze of others” (Lorey 75). Political performance only needs to mask the real innovation that is covertly taking place within the intellect. Specifying on a quote from House of Cards and in tandem with an extract from Breaking

Bad, we can begin to analyse what it takes for both protagonists to allow their opportunism - de- rived from intellectual virtuosity - to enter the zombie gaze. Section 4: Survival Thinking and Its Environment Forster !59

Skyler White: Walt, please let’s both of us stop trying to justify this whole thing

and admit that you're in danger.

Walter White: Who are you talking to right now? Who is it you think you see?

Do you know how much I make a year? I mean, even if I told you, you wouldn't believe

it. Do you know what would happen if I suddenly decided to stop going into work? A

business big enough that it could be listed on the NASDAQ goes belly up. Disappears! It

ceases to exist without me. No, you clearly don't know who you're talking to, so let me

clue you in. I am not in danger Skyler. I am the danger! A guy opens his door and gets

shot and you that of me? No. I am the one who knocks.

(“Cornered” - Breaking Bad)

Frank Underwood: Do you really want to discuss courage, Claire? Because

anyone can commit suicide, or spout their mouth in front of a camera. But do you want to

know what takes real courage? Keeping your mouth shut no matter what you might be

feeling: holding it together when the stakes are this high.

Claire Underwood: We are murderers Francis.

Frank Underwood: No we are not. We are survivors.

(“Chapter 32” - House of Cards)

There are some remarkable similarities between both these scenes. They are conversations between husband and wife, with exceptionally anxious tensions (reaffirming precarity as the catalyst towards survivability, as is the case in these readings), involving the protagonists revealing their virtuous intellect and conclusively, because of this revelation; provides the most memorable and prolific moments of script that the shows have to offer. There is some kind of breaking point Section 4: Survival Thinking and Its Environment Forster !60 taking place as each protagonist is trying to defend his work, which is now according Lorey and

Virno; life (Lorey 75). Therefore, the defence is justifiable given the emotional attachment. How- ever, in order to graduate from the situation and accusation, both protagonists reveal something about themselves to silence the precarious confrontation. Not the actual work, but the attitude it takes to succeed in work and therefore, life overall. Interestingly, Walt violates Frank’s ‘advise’ by disclosing his dangerous nature after an intense argument with Skyler, resulting in her departure and loss of trust. Frank, however, does not enter the gaze and severely maintains his ‘ruth- lessly pragmatic’ outlook, but also loses Claire’s trust as he fails to adjust perspective.

Walter and Frank’s virtuosity, prioritised towards covert intellectual opportunism, should have been shifted towards, in reference to Lorey’s thoughts, performing the right type of political virtuosity to control the situation (75). A stronger survivor above Walter and Frank, therefore, has the ability to shift virtuosity between these two concepts that we engage life with. According to

Serres, this is no easy matter and further complicated by technocratic intrusion that governs life.

Have you noticed the popularity among scientists of the word interface - which

suppose that the junction between two sciences or two concepts is perfectly under con-

trol, or seamless, and poses no problems? On the contrary, I believe that these spaces be-

tween are more complicated than one thinks. This is why I have compared them to the

Northwest Passage, with shores, islands and fractal ice floes. Between the hard sciences

and the so-called human sciences the passage resembles a jagged shore, sprinkled with

ice, and variable. Have you see the map of northern Canada? Once again the path of this

passage resembles what I earlier called the fly’s flight pattern. It’s more fractal than truly

simple. Less a juncture under control than an adventure to be had. This is an area strange-

ly void of explorers. (LaTour 70) Section 4: Survival Thinking and Its Environment Forster !61

While Frank’s masterful political deceptions remain unhinged, they continued to do so in a time where they needn’t, resulting in the loss of Claire, his most trusted ally and bedrock of emotional stability. The moral transcendence of the presidency, while effective in the sciences of politics and economics, is not useful in the institution of marriage. Similarly, Walt’s dangerous- ness that enters the gaze of his wife further illustrates the problematics of a precarious work and life merger. The attitude a drug baron adopts to triumph over other lawless people is understand- ably just as unsuitable to bring home. Overall, emotionally maintaining the covert survival cognitive requires mastering the complexities of interdisciplinary nature described by Serres above

(LaTour 70).

Conclusively, the ‘ultimate hero’ in my opinion is one that is willing to sacrifice themselves for the greater cause. One problematic here, is that the loss of such a hero means that they would be unable to provide any future instances of valour in times of desperation. The noble sacrifice of a survivor in the zombie discourse presented is the rewarding status of being known as a survivor. Moreover, they can then repeat their valour having not exposed themselves as advocates for an evolutionary type of politics. Now on display, that innovative politics may then be conformed to serve the very purpose it is trying to dismantle. “We still live in a century or a universe of concepts, beings, objects, archaic statues, or even operators, while we continually produce an environment of fluctuating interferences, which in return produce us” (LaTour 114). A survivor, then, is one who can navigate these fluctuations covertly, never exposing themselves as champi- ons to one type of precarity (Lorey 98).

These fluctuations, in line with Lorey’s work, creates the preconditions for precariousness. If precariousness were to intensify, the environment surrounding a survivor will cause their exposure as was the case with Walter White and Frank Underwood, unable to quickly adjust their Section 4: Survival Thinking and Its Environment Forster !62 virtuosity to a new type of engagement. Moreover on this new topic of intensity and with it, the quickly spreading zombie “virus of precarity” (Lorey 53), other elements must be used to combat the risk of exposing a covert, revolutionary survivor: “Speed is the elegance of thought; which mocks stupidity, heavy and slow [remaining in the same area]. Intelligence thinks and says the unexpected; it moves with the fly with its flight. A fool is defined by predictability” (LaTour 67).

Speed, then, is the emotional cognitive rationality that must be incorporated with a survival ideology consumed in an environment of “fluctuating interferences” (LaTour 114). Let us now ex- amine some real world fluctuations that may complicate survivability.

Manufactured Survivability & Purposeful Precarity. Frank Underwood and Walter

White, needless to say, are bad people, bad survivors - who’s eventual and inevitable downfall is because of their lack of speed in adaptability to a new problem in an increasingly fluctuating environment. These criminals stepped over many other precarious subjects to enhance their own position, which to them is justifiable given the hardships of life. Likewise, the failure of trickledown economics that rewards only the singular 1%, mirrors their characters obsessive self-service (Chang 2010, 137). In contrast, successful survivors in the zombie discourse are usually in groups, never the singular: “…new forms of living together and new forms of constituting emerge with a view to change the fundamentally ‘precarised world’” (Lorey 98). These types of survivors have rejected societies law’s comprehensively, including ‘togetherness’, the ultimate example of rejecting the zombie apparatus’s hypocrisy no matter the cost. This isn't to say, on the other hand, that this is the only example of survivability. Survivors with the ability to adapt virtuosity with the vast interdisciplinary speed requested by Serres could already exist. Groups of survivors covertly working together, with varying specialities in regards to the Aristotelian engagement, would provide that interdisciplinary speed because of inherent diversity. Section 4: Survival Thinking and Its Environment Forster !63

The previous chapter concluded on the idea that a survivor’s ultimate sacrifice is their own identity as a survivor. Some survivors could be fully committed to servicing the zombie apparatus, as Frank Underwood is for instance. In juxtaposition to Underwood, others may priori- tise a goal that seeks to covertly deconstruct or alternate the apparatus for the greater good. Un- derwood’s performative notion towards self-service, whilst being survivability, is a disadvanta- geous kind of pursuit in the long term. Furthermore on this point, this thesis began analysing zombie economics and how this grew into an apparatus due to culturally entangled state institutions. The institutions of education, media, commerce, and infrastructure who fall victim to zombie austerity (Stiglitz 2012, 156; Stiglitz 2015), in turn, infect culture (Chang 2007, 200).

Returning to further introductory evidence, Catherine Fitts, who questions how some people know for a fact that market economies do not work when we have never actually had them: underlines that “when you have a group of people in power…who have the power to kill with impunity, and can steal and engineer the financial system or technology…to centralise power, that’s not a market economy, that’s not even capitalism, that’s organised crime.” (Fitts). So, let’s introduce the possibility that some survivors are already imbedded at high sociological levels, steering the zombie apparatus, its economy, precarisation and fear towards greater degrees of instability to purposefully enhance survivability.

He [Castel] considers precarisation less as a phenomenon that affects current in-

dustrial capitalist societies in different ways as normality, instead seeing society threat-

ened more by the danger that the virus of insecurity could increasingly eat its way to the

centre, into the zone of integration. (Lorey 58) Section 4: Survival Thinking and Its Environment Forster !64

In the corporate world, different industries are individual languages that in turn, consist of their own complex interactions, infrastructures, joint ventures, rules and regulations. Some of these languages are closely linked, for instance when new technologies are deemed too valuable to be patterned given their potential benefit to the development of industry. The technology behind a car seat belt for instance. Schematics for these universally acclaimed technologies are shared on public access government databases, in the United States, the Institute of Standards and

Technology: U.S. Department of Commerce. That information, however, is not limited to safety engineering. Some schematics posted on these public forums are algorithmic patterns for com- puter sciences, such as the numerical algebra that makes an email go from one place to arrive at another. Because of its importance to technology, that information is widely taught in educational systems. One particular algorithm scrambles an email to be sent digitally, and then unscrambles it when it reaches its desired destination. If an email does not reach its destination it will remain scrambled, but during transit, using the same public information, “the NSA reverse engineers” the scrambling algorithms and intercepts a copy during this shipment, according to mathematics Pro- fessor Frenkel in How did the NSA hack our emails? With the success of Breaking Bad and

House of Cards, no wonder popular culture applauds those with the ability to keep a secret.

Returning to the corporate sphere, where everyone reads one language per industry, that taught information by the same and similar institutions to the U.S. department of Commerce would concern Serres: “There is nothing weaker than a global system that becomes unitary. When there is only one law, it means sudden death. The individual lives much better when he becomes numerous: the same with societies or with existence in general” (Serres 14). Moreover, that “one law” is increasingly conveyed by singular, yet universally digestible management models; Ford- ism, Lean Manufacturing outside of automobile production for instance as discussed in section two. According to Mingolo, in decolonial philosophy this is known as a “zero-point epistemolo- Section 4: Survival Thinking and Its Environment Forster !65 gy” and is predominantly geared to ensure the survival of western spheres (124). Metaphorically, the zombie discourse always presents groups of survivors, never the singular. So when one type of survival epistemology, Ford-ism for instance, becomes the “one law”; the group of survivors has been defeated, and only the singular remains meaning “sudden death” in Serres’s eyes (14).

My model of survivability beats this zombie-ism at its own game by objectifying its profitable cause; managerially prioritised over human happiness (Anholt).

With the possibility of bias management - direct or indirect - at the origins of these new global laws we must consider the reality that culturally entangled institutions (media outlets, record labels, fashion industries) and their products can also be reverse engineered, or even purposefully engineer a societies embodiment. Some technologies are already capable of giving medical diagnostics without the help of a human (Gertner). With these emergent technologies, it wouldn't be too difficult to facilitate a controlled culture, where “Conscious rappers and whistle blowers get stitches made of acupuncture needles and marionette strings27” (Flobots), to spur on zombie-ism. Aside from noting the obvious conglomerates, it is more important to highlight an emotional/cognitive capability of questioning the objects that inspire you most (Zizek): but then keeping the results of your analysis covert whilst acting appropriately upon them is problematic.

The concept of survivability is also marketable, proven by conspiracy theorist Alex

Jones’s Survival Shield - Nascent Iodine. The daily droplets can be bought for $50 as a flanking effort to the intelligence reducing fluoride water supplies that make up 70% of U.S. water consumption. Reviewers state that it “removes the cloud” from daily life and provides the same feeling as “a cup of coffee”. Therefore leading to suggest that perhaps the person only needed a cup of coffee, given the intense American working hours and lack of holidays. In comparison, Aus-

27 Flobots are well known musical activists, combining hip-hop with country, electronica, rock and world music. Their lyrical content closely mirrors Chomsky and Zizek critique of US cultural hegemony (Flobots - “There is a war going on for your mind”) Section 4: Survival Thinking and Its Environment Forster !66 tralia also drinks the same percentage yet feels no ‘cloud’ (Jones; Akers & Porter). Conspiracy theories aside, the marketability around the term ‘survival’ provides a more specific and valuable lesson to the zombie metaphor and economic discourse (Stiglitz 2012, 129). Products are specifically targeting the ideology of being a more advanced human, one that is capable or surviving the harsh realities of society where as others without this product or chemical, cannot. Wishing to chemically enhance ourselves in this way is not a recent phenomenon. Cocaine use in fast past industries and cities has long been a stereotypical cultural manifestation; in the UK, London and

US, New York banking industries for instance. However, this is an enhancement of performing better politics, rather than the far more innovative virtuoso intellect discussed in the previous section that configures real survivability.

The pursuit to actually own survivability is significantly relatable to earlier conclusions in the first section around Boltanski and Chiapello's The New Spirit of Capitalism (2005), and its ideas of committing to a destructive system for the sheer enjoyment of having survived it. “We, so-called developed nations are no longer fighting amongst ourselves; we turn, all together, against the world…” (Serres 32). This is how we will try arrive at peace. So, in creating an ever more imaginative battle to survive as Lorey has portrayed in The State of Insecurity, with the result being more capable survivors, and given the fact that “capitalist economies are in large part planned” almost to an alternative, communist level (Zizek; Chang 2010, 199): it is possible to assume that the creation of more willing survivors to tackle to the very cause that has created them is a preordained narrative written by the covert virtuoso survivors in the elite or, 1%. With this, the very induction of a survivor discourse could be a preordained narrative, an illusive dis- traction to perform better workplace politics while the zombie economy continues henceforth; or a purposeful cry for further assistance to its reorientation. Section 4: Survival Thinking and Its Environment Forster !67

Either way, the politics and economy of the present are external manifestations. If the economy and the politics of the present cannot be changed externally, then they must be changing internally. Mindfulness is perhaps the only remaining area where true survivability can be exer- cised uninterrupted with the external noise of survivability being rather chaotic, paradoxical, marketable and manufactured. The main icon from this section and leading to our conclusion, then, is how to theorise a true survivability that occurs internally whilst unaffectedly confronting zombie-ism.

Section 4: Conclusion

Rick Grimes: When I was a kid, I asked my grandpa once if he ever killed any Germans in

the war. He said he was dead the minute he stepped into enemy territory. Every day he woke

up, he told himself, 'Rest in peace. Now get up and go to war!’ And then after a few years of

pretending he was dead, he made it out alive. And that's the trick of it, I think. We do what we

need to do, and then we get to live. But no matter what we find in D.C., I know we'll be OK,

because this is how we survive. We tell ourselves that we are the walking dead.

(“Them” - The Walking Dead)

The processes of survivability are complex and in order to be successful, secretive. Sur- vivability in a zombie apparatus is, however, not to be confused with overly competitive elements: the key correspondent to capitalism that follows the detrimental idea of a winner instilling an inevitable loss on behalf of another. Zombie popular media always perceives groups of survivors, never a singular personification and is a key development to the argument. If a singular survivor succeeds in their plight against the zombie Armageddon, who else is there to verify and define their existence against the apparatus of zombie-ism? In comparison with trickledown eco- Section 4: Survival Thinking and Its Environment Forster !68 nomics, where rewarding wealth to the singular is supposed to then trickle down the class system; rewarding the rest has never been economically proven to be a successful strategy for nurturing comprehensive state development (Chang 2010, 137).

However, supposing that survivors hidden in the elite could be steering the apparatus towards precarity to create more virtuoso survivors instills an example of how they could be operating covertly. The philosophy of which is supported by Rick Grimes of The Walking Dead, perhaps the most exemplary survivor imaginable, “this is how we survive. We tell ourselves that we are the walking dead” (“Them”). If survivors and zombies are indistinguishable as such, then their ideas and actions may also be paradoxical or misunderstood. Even so, in the zombie economic discourse, the question remains what the newly virtuoso, opportunistic precariates - now survivors - will do with their new cognitive abilities. They could feed their ideas to the zombie apparatus, assist in aiding other survivors or remain covert to build up their skill set until a greater opportunity presents itself. Either way, all options involve exceptionally close interaction with the zombie apparatus, to the point where they are the same thing - as pointed out by Rick

Grimes (“Them”) - yet neither can exist without the cognitive differences of the other.

Based on the analysis for this section, it is important to visualise the cognitive difference, as the management model has done so far between the two parties, the zombie apparatus and the survivor. Especially since they cannot exist without each other, space must be allocated in the management model visualisation for a sustainable type of interaction. Looking at the tactics drawn out in The Walking Dead, whenever a fortification is established, supply runs are then implemented where a small group of survivors scavenge for food, medical supplies, weapons, but most importantly they learn how to best deal with the zombie. Through season 1-5 of The Walk- ing Dead, and especially in between seasons two and three, the audience immediately notes within the opening shot the intricate tactics now employed by the group after a prolonged time ‘out Section 4: Survival Thinking and Its Environment Forster !69 there’ (“Seed”). Having engaged with the zombies for an extended period, their knowledge of survivability has greatly increased, with the main motivation or payment behind which being hopes of finding fortification (“Them”; “Seed”).

Fortification and escape from the zombie apparatus is the reward for survivability, similar to the motivation for engaging with capitalism in The New Spirit of Capitalism, it is the fact of having survived its hardships that brings about the prize (Land & Taylor 204). As displayed in season 5 of The Walking Dead, when the survivors encounter the community Alexandria, they discover a group of survivors that have never engaged with zombies. They are severely weak with strong walls and luck being their only salvation (“Them”). This means that our concluding visualisation for this section must demonstrate a path for implementation of covert ‘scouts’ returning back into the zombie apparatus. With this notion, perhaps we can theorise a practice for how best to engage with a zombie economy - which is to temporarily partake in its functionality, to be the walking dead - but to then also exit it intermittently, recharging and self-assessing ones virtuosity for improvements in preparation for the next engagement. Furthermore, as proven in season 5 of The Walking Dead, a survivor can only be thankful for being when they encounter a zombie (“Them”). After experiencing relentless hardships, they now purposefully pursue what they intended to permanently escape, meaning that consistent re-affiliation is a necessary burden.

Linking back to the conclusions of section one this necessary re-affiliation is the fifth spirit of capitalism, luring us back into the satisfaction of surviving turmoil. Section 4: Survival Thinking and Its Environment Forster !70

Management Model Phase 2 (Recap)

Management Model Phase 3

Conclusion: Survivability as a Theoretical Concept Forster !71

Conclusion: Survivability as a Theoretical Concept

Nothing short of a total re-envisioning of the way we organise our economy and

society will do (Chang 2010, 252)

By envisioning the emotional and cognitive capacities of survivability needed to flourish in the modern age, have we enhanced the metaphor of the zombie economic discourse? This should be the case, given that anyone who posits that something is zombie-nomic instantaneously entrenches themselves as survivors counteracting that named issue. Paradoxically, however, they are one and the same as others may deem survival thought to in fact be zombie-nomic, further reinforcing Rick Grimes ideology: “we are the walking dead” (“Them”), no matter what view- point. To shift the perspective even more, we could say that the zombie is the ultimate survivor in metaphor and economic reality as its legacy will outlast the person coining the term: zombie-ism being an embodiment of combinative achievements handed down for the following generation to survive. However, we must consider returning to the root object for this discussion, zombie economics, to begin grasping the scope of the survivors metaphorical discourse.

The metaphor ‘zombie’ paints negative imagery when attached to capitalism, but the economists that conceived of this correlation also boast prescriptive tools, specifically the politics of the left. Sweden, for instance, is currently under praise for its construction of capitalism, with

Stiglitz and Chang as promoters for wealth redistribution against British and American backdrops

(Stiglitz 2012, 463; Chang 2010, 254). The notion of survivability on the other hand can sometimes feel conceptually right wing, mimicking ideas of self-betterment through competitively. It could be perceived as an evolved left advocation to shield against the ever challenging right mentality, or, a kind of merger between the two wings. Chang, as a more left heterodox economic Conclusion: Survivability as a Theoretical Concept Forster !72 thinker, states: “Unless we abandon the principles that have failed us and that are continuing to hold us back, we will meet similar disasters down the road…it’s time to get uncomfortable” (Chang 2010, 263). Considering these final words of Chang’s 23 Things, I would like to draw attention to the sense of radical change that he posits must take place. A feeling of inescapable turmoil ahead remains consistent no matter what the prescription, zombie austerity right or compassionate left. Survivability however, feels neither right nor left, but an extension from the two wings that can evade the inevitable turmoil. It feels partly describable as a type of

‘competitive compassion’ to endure the precarious hardships of the modern age, which according to Chang and many other economists, are more forthcoming than over.

Whichever political pursuit is selected, certain tools such as management models may be embodied to enhance that survivability: nevertheless, “The “tool” only comes “alive” once a person starts using the model” (Eskildsen et al. 8). Beforehand, the tool and goal are undead, opaquely constructed in metaphor and it takes a survivor to set out and achieve that goal, thereby making it ‘alive’. Operating as a survivor without such tools for modern survivability, could perhaps lead to unchecked survivability. To that end, the recently popular episodic immersions of

Breaking Bad and House of Cards (protagonists, in particular) exemplifies issues in what could be ‘post-survivability'.

The construction of Frank Underwood and Walter White, along with their ideological success reflected in the popular consumption of such characters; metaphors a desire to compete with modern society in new, original ways. Survivability, in this sense, is no longer just with the preposition ‘in society’ but with increasing reliance on the ethos of ‘against society’; until both elements are balanced equally for maximum audience engagement. If there is not enough ‘in society’, the audience cannot relate. In contrast, too much ‘against society’ amounts to a similar unrealistic dissatisfaction. The Walking Dead’s plot, for example, consistently underpins sociolog- Conclusion: Survivability as a Theoretical Concept Forster !73 ical items within the groups politics, then, equalises those elements against a traditional zombie apocalyptic bloodbath.

Despite this balanced coexistence, a survivor seems to have very little scope to change their sociological dynamic to decrease survivability, if it can be decreased at all. The powerful cognitive imprint that allows a survivor to inject the right type of virtuosity into intellect simulta- neously with performance may be incredible difficult, if not impossible to switch off: survivability in this light appears more instinctual rather than extensional. The downfall of both Walter

White, and with an inevitable prediction for Frank Underwood28, marks the core issue of post- survivability which is to diminish it when it is not needed.

If the economy heels on the terms proposed by Chang, Mendoza and Stiglitz, then much of the survivability instinct may not be needed. An emergence of stability, security and prosperity may evolve to consume the zombie economy, but only to then be repopulated by a society that knows only how infiltrate, manipulate and survive. Currently, survival economics focuses mainly on fighting the dissatisfaction with injustice and inequality. With that obstacle removed and survivability still functioning, the collision of different types of competitive compassion could re- peatedly ‘re-invent the wheel’, so to speak. For example, the ancestors to survivability as the fifth spirit of capitalism were all replaced to suit the needs of new generations (Land & Taylor 204).

Meaning post-survivability will become ironically zombie-nomic to the sixth spirit of capitalism, whatever that may entail.

That being said and returning to pre ‘post-survivability’ notions, section two discussed the ideological positioning of management models as tools for survivability. Management models in the metaphorical sense could potential map out a physical representation of the type of “stable”

28 Although I think it would be more interesting if he ‘won’, to be honest. Conclusion: Survivability as a Theoretical Concept Forster !74 cognitive process survivability must resonate with in times of precarity (Lorey 1-2; Eskildsen 8 et al).

To conclude, my model of survivability consistently reintroduces zombie-ism to make one aware that they are a survivor. In return the survivor must depart that reality occasionally to reflect, asses and define zombie-ism and its newer evolutions, which also rewards the survivor with humanism, relaxation and ‘normality’. Economically, survivability may be considered as taking longer annual leaves, gap years, educational retreats or changing professions; thematically reflective of those living the most precarious lives. Using adrenaline/opportunism to take advantage of the situation, precarity allows for periods of escapism from the zombie apparatus (Conley 35).

Within these periods, the time must be utilised to increase virtuosity for re-entry, a better cognitive to ‘battle’ the zombie apparatus. For instance learning a language, a new craft, working ‘tie- over’ jobs in foreign countries instead of one’s own and travelling. Nothing short of complete Conclusion: Survivability as a Theoretical Concept Forster !75 immersion, however - the kind that shatters the previous cognitive hegemony - will suffice. Noise filtration, as attempted in my model, visually reinforces that immersion.

Similar philosophy to this is already occurring in economic reality. Sweden is trailing the six hour work day with full pay, and the UK has considering the four day working week (Pleas- ance; Campbell). An improvement towards the survivor cause detailed here, yes, but deceptive; as its only cause is fuel the zombie apparatus, not to enlighten the human.

A perception of time is also a factor in decoding the model for survivability. Longer term departure from zombie-ism, in my option, is better for ensuring a deeper, healthier level of immersion into the noises of survivability. Others may feel that quick escapisms into higher consciousness (also known as “daydreaming”) may fit their profile better. Returning to notions posited in section two, perhaps the red tape signage displayed throughout western cities could provide an artistic, ‘quick fix’ survivability. On the contrary, long term survivability without zombie-ism is detrimental; perhaps inventing another type of zombie epidemic.

In the context of metaphors, this model can perceive in many divergent ways as each conception of survivability is conflictual. This thesis, its objects and its resulting model is my visualisation of survivability which could be used as framework for others to create their own against whatever objects they deem to be zombie-nomic. Survivability is deeply personal, and the concluding management model as a metaphor can be translated, critiqued, agreed with or disagreed with; progressing the discourse nonetheless. However, providing resonance with that metaphor of survivability is highly pragmatic for embracing the fifth spirit of capitalism; the manipulation of precarity. Before, the zombie was the only existing metaphor within economic discourse. Given that the zombie narrative is always told from perspective of the survivors, it is certainly worth epitomising what survivability actually is; the only rival to the inherently destructive zombie. Bibliography Forster !76

Bibliography

“About Dyslexia” The Yale Centre for Dyslexia & Creativity. n.d., n.p. Web. 30 March 2015.

“Chapter 32” House of Cards. Netflix, 2015. Web. 10 June 2015.

“Felina” Breaking Bad. AMC, 2014. Web. 10 June 2015.

“Made in America” The Sopranos. HBO, 2007. Web. 10 June 2015.

“Pilot” Dexter. CBS, 2006. Web. 10 June 2015.

“Them” The Walking Dead. AMC, 2015. Web. 10 June 2015.

“Seed” The Walking Dead. AMC, 2012. Web. 10 June 2015.

Académie française. 2015. Académie française, 2015. Web. 10 June 2015.

Alaimo, Stacy. “Sustainable This, Sustainable That: New Materialisms, Posthumanism, and Un known Futures.” PMLA 127.3 (2012): 558-564. Web. June 10 2015.

Anholt, Simon. “Which Country Does the Most Good for the World?.” TED Video Conference. TED. June 2014. Web. 30 March 2015.

Appadurai, Arjun. “Disjuncture and Difference in the Global Cultural Economy.” Theory, Culture & Society 7.2 (1990): 295-310. Web. 10 June 2015.

Apter, E. The Translation Zone. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2006. Print.

BBC. United Kingdom Country Profile” BBC, May 14 2015. Web. 12 June 2015. Bibliography Forster !77

Biggs, Joanna. “Keep Smiling if You Want a Job in 2015” The Guardian 19 April 2015. Web. 25 April 2015.

Boltanski, Luc & Chiapello, Eve. The New Spirit of Capitalism. Trans, Elliot Gregory. London: Verso, 2006. Print.

Brown, Steven. “Michel Serres: Science, Translation and the Logic of the Parasite”. Theory, Culture & Society 19.3 (2002): 1-27. Web. 10 June 2015.

Butler, Judith. Precarious Life. New York: Verso, 2004. Print.

Campbell, Chris. “UK Needs Four-Day Week to Combat Stress” The Guardian. 1 July 2014. Web. 28 May 2015.

Canavan, Gerry. “Person of the Year: Obama, Joker, Capitalism, Schizophrenia”. Politics and Popular Culture. Murray, Leah. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars (2010): 2-14. Web. 23 October 2014.

Chang, Ha-Joon. 23 Things They Don’t Tell You About Capitalism. London: Penguin, 2010. Print.

Chang, Ha-Joon. Bad Samaritans: The Guilty Secrets of Rich Nations & The Threat To Global Prosperity. London: Random House, 2007. Print.

Clover, Joshua. “Swans and Zombies”. The Nation. 25 April (2011): 31-34. Print.

Conley, John Evins. “Capital Cynicism: Literature and Production in the Post-Fordist Era” University of Minnesota Grad Works, 2008. Web. May 18th 2015. Bibliography Forster !78

Crotty, James Marshall. “As Ranks Of Low-Paid, College-Educated Mal-Employed Grows To 36%, Pew Asks: Is College Worth It?” Forbes 5 February 2014. Web. 10 June 2015.

Dance Gavin Dance. (2015). On The Run. On Instant Gratification. (Digital). Portland: Rise Records.

Enter Shikari. (2015). The Appeal and the Mindsweep. On The Mindsweep. (Digital). Lincolnshire: Ambush Reality.

Eskildsen, J., Jonker, J. Management Models for the Future. Berlin: Springer-Verlag, 2009. Print.

Fitts, Catherine Austin. “Economy and Culture: Imagining the Reinvention of Everything.” Video Conference. YouTube. 17 August 2013. Web. March 30 2015.

Flobots. (2007). There is a War Going on for Your Mind. On Fight with Tools. (Digital). Denver: Universal Republic.

Florida, Richard. The Flight of the Creative Class: The New Global Competition for Talent. New York: Harper Business, 2005. Print.

Foucault, Michel. “Confessions of the Flesh.” Power/Knowledge 1972-1977. Ed. Colin Gordon. New York: Vintage Books, 1980. Print.

Franklin, M. I., ed. Resounding International Relations: On Music, Culture and Politics. New York: Palgrave MacMillian, 2005. Print.

Frenkel, Edward. “How did the NSA hack our emails?” Video Interview. YouTube. 22 December 2013. Web. June 10 2015. Bibliography Forster !79

Gertner, Jon. “IBM’s Watson is Learning Its way to Saving Lives” Fast Company, November 2012. Web. June 10 2015.

Grossberg, Lawrence. Cultural Studies in the Future Tense. Durham: Duke University Press, 2010. Print.

Hall, Edward, T. Beyond Culture. New York: Anchor Books, 1976. Print.

Haven, Cynthia. “Michel Serres at Stanford” Video Interview. YouTube. 31 October 2011. Web. June 10 2015.

Hohokum. 2015. Hohokum. Web. 10 June 2015.

Holt, Douglas & Cameron Douglas. Cultural Strategy: Using Innovative Ideology to Build Breakthrough Brands. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010. Print.

Hormigos, James. “Music Distribution in the Consumer Society: the Creation of Cultural Identities Through Sound” Scientific Journal of Media and Education. 34.152 (2010): 91-98. Web. June 10 2015.

Hyde, Marina. “Come on Labour, the People Need Closure. Give us that Bloody Ed stone” The Guardian 15 May 2015. Web. Accessed 18 May 2015.

Hye-Jung, Park & David Burns, Leslie. “Fashion Orientation, Credit Card Use, and Compulsive Buying.” Journal of Consumer Marketing 22.3 (2005): 135-14. Web. June 10 2015.

Johnson MP, Alan. “Why Professor Nutt was Shown the Door” The Guardian 2 November 2009. Web. June 10 2015.

Jones, Alex. Survival Shield. Info Wars, 2015. Web. 18 May 2015. Bibliography Forster !80

Kamenka, Eugene & Krygier, Martin. Bureaucracy: The Career of a Concept. London: Edward Arnold, 1979. Print.

Kornprobst, M., Pouliot, V., Shah, N., Zaiotti, R. Metaphors of Globalisation. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007. Print.

Land, Chris & Taylor, Scott. “The Good Old Days Yet To Come: Postalgic Times for the New Spirit of Capitalism.” Management and Organisational History 9.2 (2014): 202-219. Web. June 10 2015.

Larabee, Ann. “The New Television Anti-Hero” Journal of Popular Culture. 46.6 (2013): 1131-1132. Web. June 10 2015.

LaTour, Bruno & Serres, Michel &. Conversations on Science, Culture and Time. Michigan: Uni versity of Michigan Press, 1995. Print.

Lorey, Isabell. The State of Insecurity. London: Verso Futures, 2015. Print.

Lowensohn, Josh & Kerstetter, Jim. “How Apple Keeps Them Linning Up.” CNET 17 March 2012. Web. June 10 2015.

MacInnes, Paul. “Breaking Bad Creator Vince Gillian: The Man Who Turned Walter White from Mr Chips into Scarface” The Guardian 19 May 2012. Web. June 10 2015.

Mignolo, Walter, D. The Darker Side of Western Modernity. Durham: Duke University Press, 2011. Print.

Morgan, Lee. “Fight against Franglais! French Language Website Creates list of English Words it Wants to Ban” Daily Mail 12 October 2011. Web. June 10 2015. Bibliography Forster !81

Musk, Elon. (2006 August 2). “The Secret Tesla Motors Master Plan: Just Between You and Me”. Web Blog. June 10 2015.

Neurol, Ann. “Age Related Changes in Reading Systems of Dyslexic Children” American Neurological Association 61 (2007): 363-370. Web. June 10 2015.

Periphery. (2012). Ragnarok. On Periphery 2: This Time Its Personal. (Digital). New York: Roadrunner Records.

Petersen, Hannah Ellis. “Russell Brand Voted Worlds Fourth Most Influential Thinker”. The Guardian 26 March 2015. Web. 25 April 2015.

Pleasance, Chris. “Sweden Introduces a Six-Hour working day” The Daily Mail. 9 April 2014. Web. 28 May 2015.

Plenilune Pictures. J. Robert Oppenheimer: “I am Become Death. The Destroyer of Worlds.” Trinity Interview. Youtube. 6 August 2011. Web. June 10 2015.

Porter, S.A.T. & Akers H. F. “Water Fluoridation: The Engineers Contribution” Water Sep tember 2004. Web. 18 May 2015.

Preston, Alex. “The War Against Humanities at Britain’s Universities.” The Guardian 29 March 2015. Web. 10 June 2015.

Priceto, Eric. “Edouard Glissant: Literature-Monde and Tout-Monde.” Small Axe: A Caribbean Journal of Criticism. 14 (2010): 111-120. Print.

Quiggin, John. Zombie Economics: How Dead Ideas Still Walk Among Us. New York: Princeton University Press, 2012. Print. Bibliography Forster !82

Ronson, John. The Psychopath Test. London: Riverhead Books, 2011. Print.

Rosello, Mireille. "Rudimentariness as Home". A Companion to Comparative Literature. Edited by Ali Behdad and Dominic Thomas. London: Blackwell Publishing (2011): 312-331. Print.

Ryder, Brett. “Philosopher Kings.” The Economist. 4th October 2014. Print.

Saunders, Robert A. “Undead Spaces: Fear, Globalisation, and the Popular Geopolitics of Zombiism.” Geopolitics 17.1 (2012): 80-104. Web. June 10 2015.

Schume, Phillipp. “BPM and Lean: A Powerful Combination for Process Improvement” IBM. 28 August 2013. Web. 18 May 2015.

Serres, Michel & McCarren, Felicia. “The Natural Contract.” Critical Enquiry 19.1 (1992): 1-21. Print.

Stiglitz, Joseph E. “Europes Austerity Zombies.” Project Syndicate. 26 Sept 2014. Web. June 10 2015.

Stiglitz, Joseph E. The Price of Inequality. London: Penguin, 2012. Print.

The Chariot. (2012). Forget. On One Wing. (Digital). Georgia: Good Fight.

The Dillinger Escape Plan. (2009). Farewell, Mona Lisa. On Option Paralysis. (Digital). Marsalle: Season of Mist.

Virno, Paolo. A Grammar of the Multitude. Los Angeles: Semiotext, 2009. Print.

We Steal Secrets. Dir. Alex Gibney. Universal Pictures, 2013. Film. Bibliography Forster !83

Womack, James P; Roos, Daniel; Jones, Daniel: The Machine That Changed the World: TheStory of Lean Production, Perennial: Harper, 1991. Print.

Wikileaks. 2014. Wikileaks. 23 October 2014. Web. June 10 2015.

Zizek, Slavoj. “What is Freedom?” The Guardian 3 December 2014. Web. June 10 2015.