Infinite Greed

The Inhuman Selfishness of Capital

Adrian Johnston

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English

Columbia University Press
14 May 2024

Economic theory & philosophy

Series: Insurrections: Critical Studies in Religion, Politics, and Culture

"Selfishness is essential to capitalism-or so both advocates and opponents claim. In Infinite Greed, Adrian Johnston argues that this consensus is mistaken. Through a novel synthesis of Marxism and psychoanalysis, he reveals how the relentless pursuit of profits is not fundamentally animated by human acquisitiveness. Instead, capitalism's strange ""infinite greed"" demands that individuals sacrifice their pleasures, well-being, and even themselves to serve inhuman capital.

Johnston traces the mechanisms that compel capitalist subjects to obey the cold imperative to accumulate in perpetuity and without limits-and also without regard for the consequences for everyone and everything else. Facing crises such as spiraling wealth inequality and the profit-driven prospect of a looming ecological apocalypse, the rational self-interest of the majority would seem to dictate putting a stop to capitalist accumulation. By bringing together the Marxian critique of political economy with psychoanalytic metapsychology, Johnston shows why and how capitalism, rather than being responsive to people's rationally selfish interests, disregards and overrides them instead.

Unlike previous syntheses of Marxism and psychoanalysis, Infinite Greed pairs Freudian and Lacanian concepts with the economic heart of Marx's historical materialism. In so doing, Johnston brings to light the complex intertwining of political and libidinal economies keeping us invested and complicit in perpetuating capitalism and its ills."

By: Adrian Johnston
Imprint: Columbia University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 235mm, Width: 156mm,
ISBN: 9780231214728
ISBN 10: 0231214723
Series: Insurrections: Critical Studies in Religion, Politics, and Culture
Pages: 392
Publication Date: 14 May 2024
Audience: College/higher education , Further / Higher Education
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Preface. Self-Destructive Selfishness: Devouring Its Own Children Acknowledgments Introduction. Infrastructural Analysis: Remarrying Marxism and Psychoanalysis 1. The Conflicted Political Animal: The Psychoanalytic Body and the Body Politic 2. From Closed Need to Infinite Greed: Marxian Drives 3. The Self-Cleaning Fetish: Repression Under the Shadow of Fictitious Capital 4. The Triumph of Theological Economics: God Goes Underground Conclusion. Real Reduction: It’s the Stupid Economy! Notes Bibliography Index

Adrian Johnston is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the University of New Mexico and a faculty member of the Emory Psychoanalytic Institute. He is the author of numerous books on German idealism, Marxism, psychoanalysis, science, and politics.

Reviews for Infinite Greed: The Inhuman Selfishness of Capital

This book radically reinvents psychoanalytic Marxism. Johnston accomplishes nothing less than the first full-fledged theoretical synthesis of political and libidinal economies. His erudition, clarity, and rigor make Infinite Greed a joy to read. It is guaranteed to become an instant classic for all those invested in Marxism and psychoanalysis, right up there with the likes of Herbert Marcuse’s Eros and Civilization and Louis Althusser’s Writings on Psychoanalysis. -- Slavoj Žižek