Todd McGowan, Author of 'Capitalism and Desire,' to Speak Feb. 24

University of Vermont

Todd McGowan

The Arkansas Global Changemakers Initiative and the U of A Graduate Net Impact Chapter will host its second annual Global Changemakers Book Club event on Thursday, Feb. 24, featuring a discussion with Todd McGowan, author of Capitalism and Desire: The Psychic Cost of Free Markets. Members of the public and the university community are warmly invited.

The event is scheduled for 3-4:30 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 24, via Zoom. Participants are asked to register in advance at this link, and they may also submit questions for McGowan here.

In Capitalism and Desire, McGowan applies the thinking derived from psychoanalysis to understand how capitalism has come to be viewed not only as a dominant global ideology but also as a reflection of natural human impulses. He maintains that this psychic relationship between capitalism and desire is best understood as an addiction and as a "parasitic relationship" that has come to be viewed falsely as a natural condition. Capitalism sells us the illusion of the promise that is about to be fulfilled, and then, when it is finally fulfilled, if at all, there is always something else, something new, something better still awaiting us in the future. As an alternative, McGowan argues for an approach that stresses the value of living in the present and that steps away from the normalization of capitalism as a critical step for global political and social change. 

McGowan teaches theory and film at the University of Vermont. He is the author of numerous books, including Universality and Identity Politics, Emancipation after Hegel and Only a Joke Can Save Us. He is also the editor of the Film Theory in Practice series at Bloomsbury Publishing and the co-host of the philosophy podcast Why Theory. 

The Global Changemakers initiative is a collaboration between the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences and the Sam M. Walton College of Business that brings together programs and resources from across the U of A to support a mission aimed at enhancing academic and community engagement with a wide range of global social challenges. The Global Changemakers Book Club is an open platform to discuss the work of influential authors, theories and topics around social innovation, social entrepreneurship, international collaboration, intercultural competency, multi-sector collaboration, impact investment, impact assessment mechanisms and related topics.