Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Dysfunctional capitalism: Mental illness, schizoanalysis and the epistemology of the negative in contemporary cultural studies

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Psychoanalysis, Culture & Society Aims and scope Submit manuscript

In the days to come, politics and therapy will be one and the same. […]. Capitalism will not disappear from the global landscape, but it will lose its pervasive, paradigmatic role in our semiotization. (Franco Berardi, The Soul at Work, p. 220)

Abstract

In cultural studies, neoliberal capitalism has been critically discussed in connection with a rise of mental illness. Within this discourse, psychology and psychoanalysis are being ambivalently debated as either complicit with the capitalist representational system or as potential tools to critically interrogate it. This paper traces these arguments in publications by writers such as Mark Fisher and Franco Berardi, and examines their relationship to Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari’s concept of schizoanalysis. It re-assesses Deleuze and Guattari’s ideas and concludes with an outline for the complementary use of psychoanalytic theory and schizoanalytic ideas as a meta-discourse within cultural studies.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Berardi, F. (2009) The Soul at Work. From Alienation to Autonomy. South Pasadena: Semiotexte(s).

    Google Scholar 

  • Berlant, L. (2011) Cruel Optimism. Durham/London: Duke University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Buchanan, I. (2008) Deleuze and Guattari’s Anti-Oedipus. London/New York: Continuum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Deleuze, G. and Guattari, F. (2009) Anti-Oedipus. Capitalism and Schizophrenia. Translated by R. Hurley. London: Penguin Classics.

  • Fisher, M. (2009) Capitalist Realism. Is There No Alternative?. Winchester: Zero Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fisher, M. (2014) Ghosts of My Life: Writings on Depression, Hauntology and Lost Futures. Winchester: Zero Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frosh, S. (2006) For and Against Psychoanalysis. London/New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grossberg, L. (2014) Cultural studies and Deleuze-Guattari, part 1: A polemic on projects and possibilities. Cultural Studies 28(1): 1–28.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Halberstam, J. (2011) The Queer Art of Failure. Durham/London: Duke University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Mattheys, K., Bambra, C., Warren, J., Kasim, A. and Akhter, N. (2016) Inequalities in mental health and wellbeing in a time of austerity. Baseline findings from the Stockton-on-Tees cohort study. SSM – Population Health 2: 350–359.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Newman, J. and Clarke, J. (2013) States of imagination. In: S. Hall, D. Massey and M. Rustin (eds) After Neoliberalism. The Kilburn Manifesto. London: Soundings, p. 99.

    Google Scholar 

  • Noys, B. (2012) The Persistence of the Negative. A Critique of Contemporary Continental Theory. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Noys, B. (2014) Malign Velocities. Accelerationism and Capitalism. Winchester: Zero Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Parker, I. (2007) Revolution in Psychology. Alienation to Emancipation. London/Ann Arbor: Pluto Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roberts, R. (2015) Psychology and Capitalism. The Manipulation of Mind. Winchester: Zero Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stuckler, D. and Basu, S. (2013) The Body Economic. Why Austerity Kills – Recessions, Budget Battles, and the Politics of Life and Death. New York: HarperCollins.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, J.D. (2013) Negative Capitalism. Cynicism in the Neoliberal Era. Winchester: Zero Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • The Guardian (2015) Austerity and a malign benefits regime are profoundly damaging mental health (Open letter), 17 Aprilhttps://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/apr/17/austerity-and-a-malign-benefits-regime-are-profoundly-damaging-mental-health, accessed 5 April 2017.

  • Tomšič, S. (2015) The Capitalist Unconscious. Marx and Lacan. London/New York: Verso.

    Google Scholar 

  • Walker, C. (2008) Depression and Globalization. The Politics of Mental Health in the 21st Century. New York: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Whitehead, M., Barr, B. and Kindermann, P. (2015) Trends in mental health inequalities in England during a period of recession, austerity and welfare reform 2004 to 2013. Social Science and Medicine 147: 324–331.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. British Cultural Studies, Institute for English and American Studies, TU Dortmund University, Emil-Figge-Str. 50, 44227, Dortmund, Germany

    Mark Schmitt

Authors
  1. Mark Schmitt
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mark Schmitt.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Schmitt, M. Dysfunctional capitalism: Mental illness, schizoanalysis and the epistemology of the negative in contemporary cultural studies. Psychoanal Cult Soc 22, 298–316 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41282-017-0057-9

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41282-017-0057-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation