The three volumes of "The Accursed Share" address what Bataille sees as the paradox of utility: namely, if being useful means serving a further end, then the ultimate end of utility can only be uselessness. Volumes II and III explore the paradox from an anthropological and an ethical viewpoint.

The study of eroticism therefore leads naturally to the examination of human sovereignty, in which Bataille defines the sovereign individual as one who consumes and does not labor, creating a life beyond the realm of utility.

Volume 2 The history of eroticism: eroticism and the reflection of the universe in the mind
the prohibition of incest - the problem of incest, Levi-Strauss' answer, the transition from animal to man
the natural objects of prohibitions - sexuality and dejecta, cleanliness prohibitions and the self-creation of man, death
transgression - the festival, or the transgression of prohibitions, the Phaedra complex, desire horrified at losing and at losing oneself, the object of desire and the totality of the real
the history of eroticism - marriage, unlimited fusion, the orgy, the object of desire, nudity
the composite forms or eroticism - individual love, divine love, limitless eroticism. Volume 3 Sovereignty: what I undestand by sovereignty - knowledge of sovereignty, the schema of sovereignty, the historical development of the knowledge of sovereignty, the identity of the "Sovereign" and the "Subject" and consequently of the understanding of sovereignty and self-understanding
sovereignty, feudal society and communism - what is the meaning of communism?, the collapse of feudal societies and the great revolutions, the world of denied sovereignty, sovereignty within the limits of soviet society
the negative sovereignty of communism and the unequal humanity of men - equivalence and distinction
the literary world and communism - Nietzsche and communism, Nietzsche and Jesus, Nietzsche and the transgression of prohibitions, the present age and sovereign art.