Amy Wendling, PhD, associate dean for humanities and fine arts, published an essay, “Money and the meaning of life: The fantasy of instant wealth” in Human Affairs. 29(4): 470-478. Oct. 2019, doi:10.1515/humaff-2019-0042.
Is the meaning of life to get rich quick? That would certainly explain the way many people have lived under the spell of a constitutive fantasy: the fantasy of instant wealth. Drawing on Lacan’s Discourse of the Capitalist, the article explores the fantasy of instant wealth and its relationship to addiction, especially addiction to shopping. The article concludes with a meditation on how the fantasy of instant wealth supplants another fantasy: the fantasy of labor.
