Capitalism and Desire: The Psychic Cost of Free Markets

305 Pages·2016·2.282 MB·English

by  Todd McGowan

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