Late Capitalist Freud in Literary, Cultural, and Political Theory
by Maria-Daniella Dick (Author), Robbie McLaughlan (Author)

About the Author
Maria-Daniella Dick is Lecturer in English Literature at the University of Glasgow, UK, and co-author of The Derrida Wo_rdbook (2013). Her research and teaching is in the fields of critical theory and continental philosophy; modernism and modernity; comparative literature; and psychoanalysis.

Robbie McLaughlan is Lecturer in English Literature at Newcastle University, UK, and the author of Reimagining the Dark Continent in fin de siècle Literature (2012). He has published extensively on the developmental history of psychoanalytic theory and in its application to contemporary issues.

About this Book
Late Capitalist Freud in Literary, Cultural, and Political Theory proposes that late Freudian theory has had an historical influence on the configuration of contemporary life and is central to the construction of twenty-first-century capitalism. This book investigates how we continue to live in the Freudian century, turning its attentions to specific crisis points within neoliberalism—the rise of figures like Trump, the development of social media as a new superego force, the economics that underpin the wellness and self-care industries as well as the contemporary consumption of popular culture—to maintain the continued historical importance of Freudian thought in all its dimensions. Drawing on psychoanalytic theory, literary theory, cultural studies, and political theory, this book assesses the contribution that an historical and theoretical consideration of the late Freud can make to analyzing certain aspects of late capital.

Brief Contents
1 Introduction 1
    Critical Coordinates 1
    Freud in the Factory 12
    Lobotomized Happiness 18
    Works Cited 33
2 A Politics of Freud 35
    The Elite: ‘The Dictatorship of Reason’ 35
    ‘Locker Room Talk’ 47
    Works Cited 61
3 (Psycho)Social Media 63
    Freud’s Social Network 63
    The Cyber Superego 70
    Capitalism and Desire 76
    Works Cited 90
4 Bodily Economies 93
    Self-Care and the Reality Principle 93
    The Work of Self-Care 107
    Works Cited 119
5 Culture in the Age of De_ath Drive 121
    Kultur and Cultural Production 121
    ‘The Work of Culture’ 131
    Is There Any Escape? 140
    Works Cited 154
6 Conclusion: De_ath Drive Ecologies 157
    Works Cited 173
Index 175

Language : English
ASIN : B08D79FTKH
Pages : 180
Publisher : Palgrave Macmillan; 1st Edition (July 16, 2020)