Capitalism and the new political unconscious: A philosophy of immanence

Taking seriously Jacques Lacan’s claim that “the unconscious is politics”, this volume proposes a new understanding of political power, as it interrogates the assumption that contemporary capitalism functions by tapping into people’s forms of unconscious enjoyment, rather than providing transcendental conditions for the articulation of political meanings and desires. Whether we’re aware of it or not, political communication today targets the audience’s libidinal response through political and institutional language: in policies, speeches, tweets, social media appearances, gestures and images. Yet does this mean that current political powers no longer need symbolic or ideological frameworks? The authors in this volume think not. Far from demonstrating a shift to a post-ideological age, they argue instead that such methods inaugurate an altogether novel approach to political power. Written by leading scholars from around the world, including Roberto Esposito, Alenka Zupancic, Ed Pluth and MaurizioLazzarato, each chapter reflects on contemporary power structures and inspires consideration of new political potentialities, which our focus on politics in transcendental rather than immanent terms has thus far obscured. In so doing, Capitalism and the New Political Unconscious provides an original and forceful exploration of the centrality of both psychoanalysis and the philosophy of immanence to an alternative and up-to-date understanding of the political.