Perversions of the Market

Eugene W. Holland is Professor Emeritus of Comparative Studies at the Ohio State University. He is the author of Deleuze and Guattari's A Thousand Plateaus: A Reader's Guide and Nomad Citizenship: Free-Market Communism and the Slow-Motion General Strike.

• PrefaceAcknowledgmentsPart One: Historical Introduction1. Sadism and Masochism: The Sadism of Capitalist Production2. Borderline Conditions and Global CapitalismPart Two: Theoretical Introduction3. The Psychodynamics of the Capitalist Market4. The Sociodynamics of the Capitalist Market: AxiomatizationConclusionNotesWorks CitedIndex

"…an excellent study of what capitalism looks like through a psychoanalytic lens … This book will be of great interest to scholars and historians of psychoanalysis and those interested in approaches to economics that are grounded in philosophy and cultural studies." — CHOICE"Holland demonstrates an enviable comprehension of the theories he mobilizes, an awareness of their limits, but also respect for their possibilities, with no haste in accepting or rejecting them—the true mark of a serious critical theorist. Faced with the question of the point of unmasking the sadomasochistic features of the capitalist market, Holland does not leave the reader with a critique for critique's sake. Rather, he makes it clear that his labor is expended in advocacy and anticipation of a free market—free from capital, not from the State. For Holland, a market free from the State is both a danger and an illusion." — Constantin V. Boundas, editor of Schizoanalysis and Ecosophy: Reading Deleuze and Guattari"An outstanding study with far-reaching ramifications. Under the rubric of 'schizoanalysis,' Holland shows how concepts from psychoanalysis—especially sadism, masochism, borderline narcissism, borderline supremacism, and polymorphous narcissism—may be used to chart developments in capitalism over the last three centuries. Rather than moving from the psychological to the social, however, Holland approaches psychological phenomena as functions of social, political, and economic systems inherent in capitalism. The approach is original, the scholarship is impeccable, the style is bracing, and the conclusions are profound." — Ronald Bogue, author of Thinking with Deleuze