Profit and Pleasure

Book Synopsis: Profit and Pleasure, Second Edition is a classic intervention into the relationship between capitalism and sexual identity. Rosemary Hennessy boldly reorients queer theory toward an up-close analysis of the structures of consumption, labor, and commodification, revealing how sexual identity—in the varied ways it has been culturally differentiated and lived—has been fundamentally affected by these principles of capitalism. In this second edition, a new introduction by the author reasserts a Marxist feminist standpoint as the most theoretically developed feminist analysis of capitalism’s cultural logics. She presents a range of key concepts—among them totality, overdetermination, social reproduction—outlining their evolution and continued relevance to analysis of sexuality since the book’s first publication in 2000. The introduction addresses important developments in materialist approaches to sexuality during the past two decades and concludes by returning to the notion of “love” as defined in the original edition, making a call for the common potential of human collaboration and action to ignite a radical sexual politics. This seminal text will appeal to students and scholars of feminist studies, gay and lesbian studies, and cultural and literary studies.