Ensouling the Critique of Political Economy: From Marx and Jung to Degrowth

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Abstract

Marxist political economy has been blended with various currents of psychology but hardly ever with Jungian psychoanalysis. This chapter argues that bringing Marxist and Jungian thought together can be surprisingly fruitful. While both traditions are ultimately concerned with human flourishing, they emphasize different aspects of reality, which would need to be combined for genuine emancipation: the social and the individual, the conscious and the unconscious, objectivity and subjectivity, modernity and ancestrality, and science and spirituality. After briefly discussing divergences and convergences between the two authors, I present fragments of a Jungian-Marxian anthropology, around the depth of social struggles, the relations between ideology and the unconscious, the psychological costs of capitalism, and degrowth as the possible political project of this synthesis. If one takes human and non-human flourishing seriously, one can only go post-capitalist and seek to reorganize society around a slower pace, a simpler life, and more sharing and caring. The chapter ends with a plea to bring back the soul to the core of radical activism.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationContemporary Critiques of Political Economy
Subtitle of host publicationMapping Alternative Planetary Futures
EditorsAnanta Kumar Giri
PublisherRoutledge
Pages44-59
Number of pages16
Edition1
ISBN (Electronic)9781032650920
Publication statusPublished - 23 Jan 2024

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 selection and editorial matter, Ananta Kumar Giri; individual chapters, the contributors.

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