Abstract
This paper provides a novel exploration of extreme global poverty using
an original framework that combines critiques of cruelty with the
concept of necro-economics. Departing from conventional perspectives on
inequality and poverty that accept both as necessary, I contend that
global inequality is inherently cruel in outcome and in the
becoming cruel of necro-economic subjects.
Necro-economics, conceptualized by Warren Montag, is an underutilized
concept within the broader biopolitical discourse. Like necro-politics,
necro-economics emphasizes the centrality of death within modern
economic apparatuses. I show how the concept can be usefully applied to
understanding the global economy. The study re-evaluates two
perspectives on global poverty (human rights and structural violence)
and suggests that both are inadequate for explaining the role of cruelty
within the system.
To address this gap, I turn to the work of Zygmunt Bauman to show how
the global economy, as a necro-economic system engenders a process of
cruel subjectivation. The necro-economic framework developed within this
paper reveals the global economic system to be one that requires
suffering from those at the margins while simultaneously cultivating a
callous indifference amongst those at the center. This occurs through
self-reinforcing processes of distancing and substituting technical for
moral responsibility. In conclusion, the paper establishes that the
global economic structure perpetuates suffering through the becoming
cruel of necro-economic subjects, shedding new light on the intricate
relationship between capitalism, inequality, and human suffering.