This text is an extract from the third chapter of Mécréance et Discrédit: Tome 2. Les sociétés incontrôlables d'individus désaffectés (Paris: Editions Galilée, 2006), published as a working paper for the Ars Industrialis seminar, “Suffering and consumption,” 25 February 2006, translated by Patrick Crogan and Daniel Ross, August 2006.