Asylum and Neoliberalism: The production of schizophrenia as wealth production

Abstract

This article is a development of the findings from the first author’s doctoral dissertation, which investigated how the asylum desire is updated and materializes through processes of transinstitutionalization, sustained by bio-necropolitical operations aimed at isolating those deemed as enemies and/or threats. This is a theoretical essay that uses field diary entries from the researcher as a foundation for the reflections presented, exploring aspects that reveal the intrinsic articulation between neoliberalism and the asylum logic in contemporary society, operationalized through transinstitutionalization. Throughout the sections, the article highlights elements that demonstrate how the production of madness in the present day is intertwined with social subjugation and machinic servitude, leading to a specific form of madness production as a means of wealth generation. Furthermore, it points out how transinstitutionalization functions as a mediator of the asylum desire, transforming its outcomes into wealth production under the neoliberal paradigm.