Summary of Todd McGowan's Capitalism and Desire

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 Capitalism is a system that places the law of the market at the center, and it exists anywhere there is a free market. It has no specific relationship to the psyche of those invested in it, but it does affect how they function. #2 Capitalism transcends culture and offers its subjects psychic rewards that are radically different from those provided by cultures. The capitalist subject never has enough, and it constantly seeks more. But this project of endless accumulation is built on the idea of its end. #3 There is a radical difference between the image capitalism presents to its subjects and the real satisfaction they find in it. The capitalist system requires that subjects invest themselves in the idea of accumulation and the promise of an ultimate satisfaction that accompanies the idea. #4 Capitalism is not the result of human nature, and its appeal is inextricable from the break from nature that occurs when we begin to speak. We are not capitalists because we are animalistic but because we are fundamentally removed from our animality.