Zizek talks about symbolic authority which is another essential characteristic that we have been discussing as part of the postmodern. In other discussions, we have talked about Baudrillard's simulacra, which parallels to Zizek.

Zizek provides an example of the coin and how this coin "is always sustained by the guarantee of some symbolic authority." He then presents a following quote that seems to be saying that its physical property is only good for providing the "mere carrier of its social function" (19).