“Abundance” Rather than “Scarcity”: Deleuze's Microscopic View about Theory of Desire Politics

Abstract

Deleuze believes that the traditional theory of desire scarcity is essentially an idealistic view, which is in line with the logic of capital operation, and realizes the “closure” of productive nature of “desire” by creating “scarcity anxiety”, thus enlarging the capitalists' pursuit of "profit maximization" and consumers' desire for consumption pleasure, and resulting in a fetishistic sight of alienation between people and differentiation between people and things. He inherited the views of Nietzsche, Bataille, and Marx, and believed that “desire” should be combined with "production" to achieve a materialistic turn. “Desire” does not arise from scarcity or deficiency, as Freud and Lacan say, but is a productive and flowing machine, a creative revolutionary force.