The Burnout Society. Psychopolitics: Neoliberalism and the New Techniques of Power. Byung-Chul Han

Technology and the “new prosperity” based on it were supposed to make us free and happy, but it seems that something has gone wrong. An excess of information, an excess of projects for personal improvement and development, an excess of communication with others (constant “availability” online, etc.), and simply an excess of goods and services actually disorient and exhaust our psyche. Therefore, it is not surprising that in today's world there is a real epidemic of mental illnesses: from depression and attention deficit disorder to various borderline states and burnout. According to the Korean-German philosopher Byeong-cheol Han, all this is not just individual manifestations, but symptoms of a deep structural change in the entire society, which he unequivocally calls the “society of fatigue”.

In Psychopolitics: Neoliberalism and the New Techniques of Power, Byung-cheol Han continues his analysis of modern society, drawing on and at the same time polemicizing with Michel Foucault’s concepts. In particular, he argues that today the phenomena important to Foucault, such as control, external coercion, and exploitation, have receded into the background, giving way to self-control and self-exploitation. Faced with an excess of the positive, we strive for constant self-improvement and increased productivity, as a result exhausting ourselves mentally and physically. This is no longer Foucault’s biopolitics with its schools, prisons, and labor camps, but the psychopolitics of neoliberalism, the hidden techniques of modern power that turn us into the best guards over ourselves.