Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction : why turn to psychoanalysis for a social theory of oppression? -- European alienation as the perverse privilege of the modern subject -- Alienation's double as the burden of the othered subject -- Colonial abjection and the transmission of affect -- Humanism beyond the economy of property -- The fluidity of power -- The affects of oppression -- The depressed sex -- Sublimation and subjectivity -- Idealization, revolt, and singularity -- Forgiveness and subjectivity -- Conclusion : the ethics of psychoanalysis; or, forgiveness as an alternative to alienation.