Resisting Financialisation with Deleuze and Guattari

This thesis wanted to operate two tasks. First, this thesis sought to perform a description of the contemporary functioning of the economy, that is to say of capitalism. This entailed an analysis of the current financialisation of world capitalism. Second, this thesis wanted to identify a revolutionary resistant subjectivity to financialisation. This implied to look for a subjectivity which could successfully resist the power of finance. The first task, that is to say the description of the contemporary economy, was performed through an engagement with an interdisciplinary and Marxian literature that problematised financialisation as a process related not only to the economy and production, but also to the State, social reproduction and even subjectivity. Marxism allowed me to understand the dynamics of capitalism and the current centrality of finance, which was expressed by the concept of financialisation. However, Marxism was unable to provide a sophisticated political strategy which would be based on a specific revolutionary subjectivity. Marx’s oeuvre never provided very effective political strategies. Therefore, the political economy of Marx was often complemented by Leninism as a form of political strategy, based on party politics and the vanguard of the proletariat. However, Leninism was connected to Fordist capitalism. Therefore, a new political strategy was needed in the context of financialisation. The work of Deleuze and Guattari provided a novel conceptualisation of subjectivity which could articulate a revolutionary resistance to financialisation. My revolutionary understanding of the oeuvre of Deleuze and Guattari was situated by an analysis of their reception by political philosophy because alternative interpretations existed. Therefore, this thesis sought to operate a fruitful dialogue, that is to say a resonance between Marx and Deleuze and Guattari.