Capitalism and Desire: The Psychic Cost of Free Markets PDF
Preview Capitalism and Desire: The Psychic Cost of Free Markets
CAPITALISM AND DESIRE C A P I TA L I S M A N D D E S I R E Th e Psychic Cost of Free Markets Todd McGowan COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS NEW YORK Columbia University Press Publishers Since 1893 New York Chichester, West Sussex cup.columbia.edu Copyright © 2016 Columbia University Press All rights reserved Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: McGowan, Todd, author. Title: Capitalism and desire: the psychic cost of free markets / Todd McGowan. Description: New York: Columbia University Press, 2016. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifi ers: LCCN 2016005309| ISBN 9780231178723 (cloth: alk. paper) | ISBN 9780231542210 (e- book) Subjects: LCSH: Capitalism— Psychological aspects. | Capitalism— Social aspects. | Psychoanalysis— Philosophy. Classifi cation: LCC HB501 .M55347 2016 | DDC 330.12/2019— dc23 LC rec ord available at https:// lccn . loc . gov / 2016005309 Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent and durable acid-free paper. Th is book is printed on paper with recycled content. Printed in the United States of America c 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 cover design: Mary Ann Smith References to websites (URLs) were accurate at the time of writing. Neither the author nor Columbia University Press is responsible for URLs that may have expired or changed since the manuscript was prepared. For Bea Bookchin the only anticapitalist I’ve ever met Contents Acknowledgments ix Introduction: After Injustice and Repression 1 [1] Th e Subject of Desire and the Subject of Capitalism 19 [ 2] Th e Psychic Constitution of Private Space 51 [ 3] Shielding Our Eyes from the Gaze 70 [ 4] Th e Persistence of Sacrifi ce After Its Obsolescence 90 [ 5] A God We Can Believe In 114 [ 6] A More Tolerable Infi nity 136 [ 7] Th e Ends of Capitalism 157 [ 8] Exchanging Love for Romance 176 [ 9] Abundance and Scarcity 197 [ 10] Th e Market’s Fetishistic Sublime 215 Conclusion: Enjoy, Don’t Accumulate 239 Notes 245 Index 287 vii Acknowledgments Chapters 2 and 3 contain work revised from earlier publications. Th anks to Ashgate Publishing for permission to reprint “Driven Into the Public: Th e Psychic Constitution of Space,” in A rchitecture Post Mortem: Th e Diastolic Architecture of Decline, Dystopia, and Death , eds. Charles David Bertolini, Simone Brott, and Donald Kunze (London: Ashgate, 2013), 15–30. Th anks also to Wayne State University Press for permis- sion to reprint “Th e Capitalist Gaze,” Discourse: Journal for Th eoretical Studies in Media and Culture 35, no. 1: 3–23, copyright © 2013 Wayne State University Press. More than anyone else, Wendy Lochner at Columbia University Press was the engine for the publication of this book. She is an incredibly thoughtful and conscientious editor, and her eff orts to sustain the pub- lication of theoretical works today are unequalled. I also appreciate the work that Christine Dunbar at Columbia Uni- versity Press did in order to help this book to appear. Th anks to Dashiell and Th eo Neroni for their constant insights into how capitalism insinuates itself into the structure of our desire. Th e students at the University of Vermont played a decisive role in helping me to think through the psychic appeal of capitalism. Ryan Engley has been especially infl uential on my thinking, especially con- cerning the theoretical underpinnings of the banal. My fi lm studies colleagues at the University of Vermont—Deb Ellis, Dave Jenemann, Hilary Neroni, Sarah Nilsen, and Hyon Joo Yoo—have created a stimulating environment in which to teach and write. ix
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