The Making of the Indebted Man: An Essay on the Neoliberal Condition (Volume 13) (Semiotext(e) / Intervention Series (13))

A new and radical reexamination of today's neoliberalist “new economy” through the political lens of the debtor/creditor relation. "The debtor-creditor relation, which is at the heart of this book, sharpens mechanisms of exploitation and domination indiscriminately, since, in it, there is no distinction between workers and the unemployed, consumers and producers, working and non-working populations, between retirees and welfare recipients. They are all 'debtors,' guilty and responsible in the eyes of capital, which has become the Great, the Universal, Creditor."—from __The Making of the Indebted Man__ Debt—both public debt and private debt—has become a major concern of economic and political leaders. In __The Making of the Indebted Man__, Maurizio Lazzarato shows that, far from being a threat to the capitalist economy, debt lies at the very core of the neoliberal project. Through a reading of Karl Marx's lesser-known youthful writings on John Mill, and a rereading of writings by Friedrich Nietzsche, Gilles Deleuze, Félix Guattari, and Michel Foucault, Lazzarato demonstrates that debt is above all a political construction, and that the creditor/debtor relation is the fundamental social relation of Western societies. Debt cannot be reduced to a simple economic mechanism, for it is also a technique of “public safety” through which individual and collective subjectivities are governed and controlled. Its aim is to minimize the uncertainty of the time and behavior of the governed. We are forever sinking further into debt to the State, to private insurance, and, on a more general level, to corporations. To insure that we honor our debts, we are at once encouraged and compelled to become the “entrepreneurs” of our lives, of our “human capital.” In this way, our entire material, psychological, and affective horizon is upended and reconfigured. How do we extricate ourselves from this impossible situation? How do we escape the neoliberal condition of the indebted man? Lazzarato argues that we will have to recognize that there is no simple technical, economic, or financial solution. We must instead radically challenge the fundamental social relation structuring capitalism: the system of debt. **Maurizio Lazzarato** is a sociologist and philosopher in Paris. He is the author of __Governing by Debt__ and __Signs and Machines: Capitalism and the Production of Subjectivity__, both published by Semiotext(e). **With complete table of contents. Includes cover.** "A new and radical reexamination of today's neoliberalist "new economy" through the political lens of the debtor/creditor relation ... Debt -both public debt and private debt- has become a major concern of economic and political leaders. In The Making of the Indebted Man, Maurizio Lazzarato shows that, far from being a threat to the capitalist economy, debt lies at the very core of the neoliberal project. Through a reading of Karl Marx's lesser-known youthful writings on John Mill, and a rereading of writings by Friedrich Nietzsche, Gilles Deleuze, Félix Guattari, and Michel Foucault, Lazzarato demonstrates that debt is above all a political construction, and that the creditor/debtor relation is the fundamental social relation of Western societies. Debt cannot be reduced to a simple economic mechanism, for it is also a technique of "public safety" through which individual and collective subjectivities are governed and controlled. Its aim is to minimize the uncertainty of the time and behavior of the governed. We are forever sinking further into debt to the State, to private insurance, and, on a more general level, to corporations. To insure that we honor our debts, we are at once encouraged and compelled to become the "entrepreneurs" of our lives, of our "human capital." In this way, our entire material, psychological, and affective horizon is upended and reconfigured. How do we extricate ourselves from this impossible situation? How do we escape the neoliberal condition of the indebted man? Lazzarato argues that we will have to recognize that there is no simple technical, economic, or financial solution. We must instead radically challenge the fundamental social relation structuring capitalism: the system of debt." --Descripción del editor Cover Copyright Title Page Contents Foreword 1. Understanding Debt as the Basis of Social Life Why a Debt Economy and not a Finance Economy? Manufacturing Debt A Power Relation Specific to Debt 2. The Genealogy of Debt and the Debtor Debt and Subjectivity: Nietzsche's Contribution The Creditor-Debtor Relationship as the Basis of Social Relations The Temporality of Debt as Possibility, Choice, and Decision The Economy as Process of Subjectivation The Two Marxes A Very Nietschean Marx "Objective" Debt in Marx's Capital Action and Confidence within the Logic of Debt Infinite Debt Barbarian Flows Capitalist Flows 3. The Ascendency of Debt in Neoliberalism Foucault and the "Birth" of Neoliberalism Debt's Reconfiguration of Sovereign, Disciplinary, and Biopolitical Power Sovereign Power Disciplinary Power Biopolitical Power Neoliberal Governmentality and Debt: Hegemony or Government? What Is Capitalism? The Subprime Crisis The Sovereign Debt Crisis Debt and the Social World Three Kinds of Debt: Private, Sovereign, and Social Hypocrisy, Cynicism, and Distrust in the Techniques of Debt Subjectivation Evaluation and Debt Debt as Social Subjection and Machinic Subjugation Antiproduction and Antidemocracy Conclusion Introduction to the Italian Translation - Debt and Austerity: The German Model of Precarious Full-Employment The German Model A Financial Crisis or a Crisis of Capitalism? Notes 1. Understanding Debt as the Basis of Social Life 2. The Genealogy of Debt and the Debtor 3. The Ascendency of Debt in Neoliberalism Conclusion Introduction to the Italian Translation semiotext(e) intervention series Back Cover Has become a major concern of economic and political leaders. In The Making of the Indebted Man, Maurizio Lazzarato shows that, far from being a threat to the capitalist economy, debt lies at the very core of the neoliberal project. Through a reading of Karl Marx's lesser-known youthful writings on John Mill, and a rereading of writings by Friedrich Nietzsche, Gilles Deleuze, Felix Guattari, and Michel Foucault, Lazzarato demonstrates that debt is above all a political construction, and that the creditor/debtor relation is the fundamental social relation of Western societies. Debt cannot be reduced to a simple economic mechanism, for it is also a technique of "public safety" through which individual and collective subjectivities are governed and controlled. Its aim is to minimize the uncertainty of the time and behavior of the governed. We are forever sinking further into debt to the State, to private insurance, and, on a more general level, to corporations Debt, Both Public Debt And Private Debt, Has Become A Major Concern Of Economic And Political Leaders. In 'the Making Of The Indebted Man', Maurizio Lazzarato Shows That, Far From Being A Threat To The Capitalist Economy, Debt Lies At The Very Core Of The Neoliberal Project. 1. Understanding Debt As The Basis Of Social Life -- 2. The Genealogy Of Debt And The Debtor -- 3. The Ascendency Of Debt In Neoliberalism -- Conclusion. Maurizio Lazzarato ; Translated By Joshua David Jordan. Includes Bibliographical References.