The Labour of Enjoyment

Enjoyment appears as purely private matter, but this is by far not the
case. Ever since Aristotle the philosophical social critique is tormented
by the question, whether the libidinal tendencies of human subjects
allow the construction of a just political-economic order. It seemed at first that in modernity this problem had been overcome. Economic liberalism and utilitarianism argued that egoistic private interests and social justice were directly linked and that capitalism united libidinal and
political economy in the best possible manner. But the political-economic panorama soon turned out significantly more complex and contradictory.

Tomšič’s essay recalls central Marxian and Freudian insights and
circumscribes the political stakes of psychoanalysis under the general
banner of a Critique of Libidinal Economy.