ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to explore the issues, tracing changing ideas of addiction and their inter-relation with wider political-economic and social forces. It reviews the spread of increasingly pervasive forms of consumption that work to generate a climate of ongoing desire that acts as a motor of economic activity. The chapter focuses on to note that this climate of intensified consumption also produces the requirement for ever-more intensive forms of self-control. It considers the notion of risk, which is interwoven throughout ideas of addiction, arguing that the former has not 'dissolved' the latter as is sometimes claimed, but rather intersects with it in complex ways. The chapter examines the wider metaphorical aspects of discourses of addiction, arguing that they serve as a counterpoint to neoliberal ideals of 'responsible' consumption and the rational management of desire. The political-economic system has been a key driver for the global expansion of ever-more intensive forms of consumption.
