Libidinal Economies of Crisis Times

Book excerpt: What is a libidinal economy? How are we psychically hooked into the circuits of the capitalist economy? The contributors to this book question the relevance of a concept that began reappearing in critiques and analyses of capitalist societies since the financial crisis of 2007. The chapters stretch from its philosophical pre-history - including Marx, Spinoza, Cavendish and Ibn Sina - to the term's introduction with Freud and on, via Lyotard, to how online platforms put our psyches to work. Libidinal Economies of Crisis Times is a collection of essays by leading scholars about the connections among economies, pleasures, and desires.