The Split Economy

Saint Paul Goes to Wall Street

Nimi Wariboko author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:State University of New York Press

Published:2nd Jul '21

Should be back in stock very soon

This paperback is available in another edition too:

The Split Economy cover

Draws on philosophy, economics, theology, and psychoanalytic theory to reveal a fundamental dynamic of capitalism.

Starting with Marx and Freud, scholars have attempted to identify the primary ethical challenge of capitalism. They have named injustice, inequality, repression, exploitative empires, and capitalism's psychic hold over all of us, among other ills. Nimi Wariboko instead argues that the core ethical problem of capitalism lies in the split nature of the modern economy, an economy divided against itself. Production is set against finance, consumption against saving, and the future against the present. As the rich enjoy their lifestyle, their fellow citizens live in servitude. The economy mimics the structure of our human subjectivity as Saint Paul theorizes in Romans 7: the law constitutes the subject as split, traversed by negativity. The economy is split, shot through with a fundamental antagonism. This fundamental negativity at the core of the economy disturbs its stability and identity, generating its destructive drive. The Split Economy develops a robust theoretical framework at the intersection of continental philosophy, psychoanalytic theory, theology, and political economy to reveal a fundamental dynamic at the heart of capitalism.

"This is a very welcome and important book that makes significant and original contributions to psychoanalytic theory, ontology, receptions of Pauline messianism, and political critiques of finance capitalism. I predict that it will be widely recognized as making crucial advances in several contemporary conversations." — Ward Blanton, author of A Materialism for the Masses: Saint Paul and the Philosophy of Undying Life

ISBN: 9781438480589

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: unknown

192 pages