Thanatic Capitalism or Democratic Eros? Notes on "Lie and colonize: Unconscious obedience and neoliberal subjectivity", Nora Merlin's latest book

Authors

  • Agustín Rodríguez Uria Facultad de Ciencias sociales – Universidad de Buenos Aires

Keywords:

Neoliberalism, Democracy, Capitalism, Emancipation, Populism.

Abstract

Nora Merlin's book contains an extensive investigation about contemporary capitalism's main domination mechanism: the production of subjectivity. Throughout twenty-three chapters and using multiple psychoanalytic categories, the author presents a set of theoretical formulations that allow us to understand the modalities of construction of the new subjectivities colonized by the mandates of capital. Secondly, Merlín analyzes the radical incompatibility between neoliberalism and democracy, and finally also proposes some elements to think about how to reconstruct an emancipatory political subject that allows a revitalization of democracy. Our notes examine the main arguments of the author, but also propose a specific reading key: inserting Merlin's positions within some of the main debates of contemporary social theory; particularly within the open discussions around the concept of hegemony formulated by Ernesto Laclau.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Alemán, J. Capitalismo: Crimen perfecto o emancipación. Buenos Aires: Ned ediciones. 2019.

Merlín, N. Mentir y colonizar: Obediencia inconsciente y subjetividad neoliberal. Buenos Aires: Letra Viva. 2019.

Mouffe, C. Por un populismo de izquierda. Buenos Aires: Siglo XXI. 2018.

Laclau, E. La razón populista. Buenos Aires: FCE. 2005

Lazzarato, M. El capital odia a todo el mundo. Buenos Aires: Eterna Cadencia. 2020.

La Boétie, Étienne De. El discurso de la servidumbre voluntaria. Buenos Aires: Terramar. 2008.

Lefort, C. La invención democrática. Buenos Aires: Nueva visión. 1990.

Stavrakakis, Y. La izquierda lacaniana. Buenos Aires: FCE. 2010.

Zizek, S. “Mantener el lugar” en: J. Butler, E. Laclau and S. Zizek, ed., Contingencia, hegemonía y universalidad. Buenos Aires: FCE. 2000.

Published

2020-09-15

How to Cite

Rodríguez Uria, A. (2020). Thanatic Capitalism or Democratic Eros? Notes on "Lie and colonize: Unconscious obedience and neoliberal subjectivity", Nora Merlin’s latest book. Revista Pilquen. Sección Ciencias Sociales, 23(3), 118–123. Retrieved from https://revele.uncoma.edu.ar/index.php/Sociales/article/view/2762