A Marxian Theory of the Subject: Commodity Fetishism, Autonomy, and Psychological Deprivation

URL:

http://www.informaworld.com/10.1080/08935690902955120

Abstract:

The theme of misrecognition is a common element in the work of Marx, Freud, and Lacan, and it takes as its implicit focus the relationship between autonomy, fetishism, and alienation. Marx's theory of commodity fetishism exposes the mystification of social relations in the commodity as a concealed form of domination that contributes to the creation of alienated subjects. Lacan's ahistorical account of the formation of alienated subjects through their insertion in the symbolic order, while antithetical to Marx's materialist stance, provides a useful framework for exploring the formation of capitalist subjects whose consciousness is shaped by the fetishism of commodities. Lacan's theory of empty speech provides a vehicle for envisioning the full speech that might characterize the consciousness of the socialist subject.

Notes:

0893-5696