Bodies for Profit and Power

Early dystopian science fiction like George Orwell’s 1984 or Thea von Harbou’s Metropolis show us bleak worlds where capitalism has no boundaries and has corrupted sovereign powers, exploiting the lower classes and benefiting only a few at the top. Political laws and policies related to human life—or the biopolitical—devalue that life, making humanity little more than expendable “machines” producing for capitalism, and capitalism’s focus on progress has made it a central concern in much of science fiction. Covering science fiction from the early 1900s to present, this book examines the portrayal of dystopian capitalism and the biopolitical in works like Brave New World and R.U.R., among many others.

Lisa Wenger Bro is a professor of English at Middle Georgia State University and specializes in speculative fiction of all types—science fiction, fantasy, magical realism, and more.

Lisa Wenger Bro
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 269
Bibliographic Info: notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2023
pISBN: 978-1-4766-7936-5
eISBN: 978-1-4766-5035-7
Imprint: McFarland

Preface  1
Introduction  5
Chapter 1
Sovereignty and Capitalism  41
Chapter 2
Corruptive Capitalism  67
Chapter 3
Class and Exploitation  90
Chapter 4
From Neoliberalism to Totalitarianism  122
Chapter 5
Tools of the Trade  172
Coda: Of Gods and Monsters  226
Chapter Notes  239
Bibliography  251
Index  261

“thorough…recommended”—Choice