The value of desire: With Lacan to the new hidden abode of knowledge valorisation
借助拉康理论，提出欲望劳动概念，揭示知识经济中员工情感与沟通能力如何通过欲望驱动价值创造，对劳动过程理论中的主体性争论提供新视角。
The process of value creation in the knowledge economy is embedded in the social context of production, where employees’ affective and communicative capacities play a central role. This positions subjectivity as a key driver of knowledge production and growth. However, the affective dimension of subjectivity and the mechanisms of its continuous reproduction remain underexplored. Within Labour Process Theory (LPT), this oversight has sparked ongoing debates, with structuralist perspectives criticised for neglecting subjectivity and poststructuralist approaches for ignoring structure. This paper engages with these debates by drawing on Lacan to propose an alternative understanding of the social bond and its role in value creation. Lacan’s concept of the University Discourse highlights how social bonds in knowledge-intensive contexts are increasingly mediated by the symbolic authority of knowledge, rather than interpersonal relationships or traditional power hierarchies. This seemingly neutral, objective knowledge channels the pursuit of desire into knowledge production by transforming its unattainable nature into a ritualised compliance with expert-defined guidelines. In doing so, it creates an ‘economy of enjoyment’ characterised by a self-perpetuating cycle of knowledge production and growth. By introducing the concept of desire labour, this paper uncovers how desire functions as a hidden, productive force, exposing new avenues of value creation within the knowledge economy.