Pathoanalysis of the subject of capitalism

Abstract

Freud remarked that, by analogy with petrology, just as one can discern the structure of a crystal from fragments that are broken off from larger pieces, so, too, one can discern the ‘structure’ of society from individuals who suffer certain pathologies. Philippe van Haute proposed that on this basis, a project of ‘pathoanalysis’ is possible as a contribution to a philosophical anthropology of the present. It is as if the overall structure of society is condensed in its pathological fragments. Hence, it makes sense to scrutinise some of the most promising ‘pathological fragments’ - that is, those which, judging by extant literature, seem to resonate with Freud's claims - in an effort to come to grips with the overall ‘structure’ of contemporary society, which is that of neoliberal capitalism. The pathological ‘fragments’ examined in this article are obsessional neurosis, perversion, and schizophrenia, the first of which was selected in the light of Ian Parker's claim, that the exemplary capitalist subject is the obsessional neurotic. The second was chosen because Freud's characterisation of sadism as a form of perversion resonates with the insights of a number of contemporary thinkers on capitalist practices, and the third - schizophrenia - was selected in the light of the work of Deleuze and Guattari, in which the contemporary subject was described as typically ‘schizoid’, given the schizophrenising effects of capitalist flows. Against this background one can draw certain conclusions about the direction psychotherapy could take in contemporary capitalist society.