The Cultural Significance of Waste

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This chapter examines the historical and social implications of human defecation practices and restroom accessibility, tracing innovations in waste management from early civilizations to contemporary society. It delves into psychoanalytic theories, particularly Freud's views on feces and child development, while linking bodily functions to human dignity and societal values. The discussion also critiques capitalism's relationship with waste, revealing how consumer practices and societal attitudes toward excrement reflect broader economic structures.

Alright, we’re back…plumbing the depths of psychoanalytic marxism! This week we discuss Slavoj Žižek’s Scatology through Adrian Johnston’s most recent book Infinite Greed: The Inhuman Selfishness of Capital.

Jacques Lacan points out that we are born between urine and faeces, and that man is the only animal for whom waste disposal is a problem. What is the relationship between money and waste? Freud points out this strange coincidence of the highest form (gold) and the lowest (shit), so why is shit a gift that keeps on giving? What does all of this have to do with Japanese hamburgers & Marx?

We’re talking the political and libidinal economy of shit from the Scatalogical Rites of Nations & the Interpretation of Dreams to Uncut Gems, Cool Runnings, & Laporte’s History of Shit.

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Up next we have two interviews with Adrian Johnston, & we’ll see you in Paris.

Aufhebung(hole)!