Pure Excess - by Todd McGowan

About the Book

Todd McGowan forges a new theory of capitalism as a system based on the production of more than what we need: pure excess.

Book Synopsis

Todd McGowan forges a new theory of capitalism as a system based on the production of more than what we need: pure excess. He argues that the promise of more--more wealth, more enjoyment, more opportunity, without requiring any sacrifice--is the essence of capitalism. Previous socioeconomic systems set up some form of the social good as their focus. Capitalism, however, represents a revolutionary turn away from the good and the useful toward excessive growth, which now threatens the habitability of the planet.

Drawing on psychoanalytic theory, McGowan shows how the production of commodities explains the role of excess in the workings of capitalism. Capitalism and the commodity ensnare us with the image of the constant fulfillment of our desires--the seductive but unattainable promise of satisfying a longing that has no end. To challenge this system, McGowan turns to art, arguing that it can expose the psychological mechanisms that perpetuate capitalist society and reveal the need for limits. Featuring lively writing and engaging examples from film, literature, and popular culture, Pure Excess uncovers the hidden logic of capitalism--and helps us envision a noncapitalist life in a noncapitalist society.

Review Quotes

Written from a psychoanalytic, largely Lacanian, perspective, [Pure Excess] provides an insightful account of how and why most individuals in the West live the way they do as they reproduce unawares the condition of their existence, which is not of their own making. Recommended.-- "Choice"

In his latest groundbreaking work, Todd McGowan provides a thrilling examination of the nature of excess in capitalism. Much more than a critical analysis of capitalism, this book also reveals the anticapitalist potential of art and the aesthetic form.--Alenka Zupančič, author of What IS Sex?

This crystalline study perfects the psychoanalytic critique of contemporary omnicrisis. As Todd McGowan builds a new analysis of the place of aesthetic form in a culture of excess, he shows how art's constraints model an excess attained through rather than despite lack, and thus educate anticapitalist desire.--Anna Kornbluh, author of Immediacy, or The Style of Too Late Capitalism

For years McGowan has worked to understand the core mechanism of the libidinal economy that sustains capitalism. With Pure Excess, we finally have the definitive formulation. He condenses deep paradoxes: capitalism produces pure excess even when most people cannot satisfy their basic needs. This book is obligatory reading for everyone who wants to understand the global crisis we are in.--Slavoj Zizek

About the Author

Todd McGowan teaches theory and film at the University of Vermont. He is the author of Embracing Alienation, The Racist Fantasy, Emancipation After Hegel, Capitalism and Desire, and Only a Joke Can Save Us, among other books. He is also the cohost of the Why Theory podcast with Ryan Engley.