Slavoj Zizek is considered as one of the finest intellectual in the contemporary modern world. He is a philosopher and cultural critic. He has been called the ‘Elvis Presley’ of philosophy as well as an 'academic rock star'. He writes widely on a diverse range of topics, including political theory, film theory, cultural studies, theology, and psychoanalysis. He introduces us to the idea of ‘Theft of Enjoyment’ in his book Tarrying with the Negative (1993). He argues that a community is held together by a shared relationship to a Thing, which is ‘to our enjoyment incarnate’. Relationship between the Thing and community is based on fantasies. When members of a community talk of a threat to ‘our way of life’ they are actually referring to their relationship to that Thing. A community believes that ‘the Thing is only accessible to us, as something ‘they’ the others cannot grasp; nonetheless constantly menaced by them’ (105). So, this Thing is present in a community’s way of life; their customs, rituals, values ‘in short, all the details by which is made visible the unique way a community organizes its enjoyment’. However, Zizek cautions that this thing isn’t simply a set of values, rather it is a kind of divine conviction. People believe in it, the way they believe in the Holy Spirit. Nations and races are in constant conflict because of their false beliefs ‘every nationality has built its own mythology narrating how other nations deprive it of the vital part of enjoyment the possession of which would allow it to live fully’ (107). Nations accuse each other of the theft of their enjoyment but the ironic fact is that they never possess what they perceive has been stolen from them. It is actually a fear of the theft of fantasy. Cultural identities are not only socially constructed, but they are psychologically constructed.
