Dirk KöppenDie Ökonomie der Verschwendung

About this book englishenglish

The book undertakes an exciting journey through waste. The journey begins with archaic societies and ends with the subversive capitalism of postmodernity. In between, we not only visit the festivals of modern times, but also the sun, whose energy is the basis of all growth. How did this come about?

The subject of the book is a philosophical-economic study of Georges Bataille and attempts to update his economics. But what does Bataille's economic project actually involve, roughly speaking? His attempt at a general economy implies an imperative of wastefulness, which opposes an all-encompassing rationality of purpose. Derived from the metaphor of an energy balance of the earth, surplus energy can initially be used for growth. As soon as the limits to growth are reached, the surplus energy must be wasted. Bataille assumes a negation of the waste imperative in conventional economics. According to the rationality of purpose, the accumulation of surpluses takes precedence over consumption and thus the necessary waste. When the limit of growth is reached and the surpluses can no longer be invested for further growth, the waste of the surpluses follows in a catastrophic form. The author repeatedly succeeds in linking Bataille's philosophy with economic theory.

A look at the present reveals a change in the markets over time, which is symptomatic of a change in the capitalist processes at work within the markets. The erosion of the demarcation of non-economic areas of life is used to change the standards of action. The social world is economized by subjecting it to the question of utility. In order to avoid the danger of rational appropriation, a critique of subversive capitalism can only take the form of uncompromising anti-economic thinking. Unproductive expenditure is the touchstone of the extent to which the economization of the lifeworld has progressed.

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