Burnout Society

About the Author

He studied metallurgy in Seoul before moving to Germany in the 80s to study philosophy, German literature, and Catholic theology in Munich. Ge received his doctoral degree with a dissertation on mood in Heidegger. He is the author of more than thirty books, the most well known are treatises on what he terms a "society of tiredness: and a society of transparency. Han's work focuses on transparency as a cultural norm created by Neoliberal market forces, which he understands as the insatiable drive toward voluntary disclosure bordering on the pornographic.

Book Overview

The book to me is a collection of essays (summarized below) all around a central topic arguing that neurological illnesses such as depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (BPD), and burnout syndrome do not follow from the negativity of what is immunologically foreign, but from an excess of positivity. I have not read all (or most in terms of length) of the works than Han references in this work, but throughout these essays, he references authors, some contemporary (I think), others from the 19th and 20th century. I think he does a good job of making it so that you do not have to be well read on what he references to get the point that he is arguing.

Neuronal Power

Han contends that our society is not an immunological age. According to him, the past century was an immunological age, a time where everything foreign is simply combated and warded off. An immunological age is defined by its fight against Otherness.

Now, however, Otherness is being replaced with difference, which does not entail immunoreaction.

Han claims that the immunological paradigm is incompatible with the process of globalization. The lack of Otherness produces a a time that is poor in negativity. He claims that the pathological, neurological conditions mentioned above are due to an excess of positivity.

The violence of positivity does not deprive, it saturates; it does not exclude, it exhausts. [...] Burnout syndrome occurs when the ego overheats, which follows from too much of the same.

Beyond Disciplinary Society

In this essay, Han talks about the transformation of society from a disciplinary society to an achievement society.

Its inhabitants are no longer obedience-subjects but achievement-subjects. They are entrepreneurs of themselves.

A disciplinary society is a society of negativity; it is defined by the negativity of prohibition. An achievement society is one in the process of discarding negativity.

Disciplinary society is still governed by no. Its negativity produced madmen and criminals. In contrast, achievement society creates depressives and losers.

I likes Han's point about the positivity of Can in achievement society versus disciplinary society's negative should.

The complaint of the depressive individual, Nothing is possible, can only occur in a society that thinks, Nothing is impossible. No-longer-being-able-to-be-able leads to destructive self-reproach and auto-aggression.

Vita Activa

Excessive positivity also expresses itself as an excess of stimuli, information, and impulses. Han argues that multitasking and the ability to do so is not an impressive ability of humans (all animals multitask), but he argues that contemplative attention is the true, most noble ability of humans to which we owe the cultural achievements of humanity.

Culture presumes an environment in which deep attention is possible Increasingly, such immersive reflection is being displaced by an entirely different form of attention: hyperattention.

Nietzsche on the importance of the contemplative nature of man:

From lack of rest, our civilization is ending in a new barbarism. Never have the active, which is to say the restless, people been prized more. Therefore, one of the necessary correctives that must be applied to the character of humanity is a massive strengthening of the contemplative element.

The modern loss of faith does not concern just God or the hereafter. It involves reality itself and makes human life radically fleeting. Life has never been as fleeting as it is today. Not just human life, but the world in general is becoming radically fleeting. Nothing promises duration or substance.

The Pedagogy of Seeing

Learning to see is one of three tasks for which, Nietzsche claims, pedagogues are necessary: One needs to learn to see, to think, and to speak and write.

The goal of education, according to Nietzsche, is noble culture. Learning to see means getting your eyes used to calm, to patience, to letting things come to you - that is making yourself capable of deep and contemplative attention, casting a long and slow gaze.

In the aphorism, Principal deficiency of active men, Nietzsche writes: Active men are generally wanting in the higher activity ... in this regard they are lazy ... The active roll as the stone rolls, in obedience to the stupid laws of mechanics.

The general positivization of the world means that both human beings and society are transforming into autistic performance-machines.

The Bartleby Case

According to Han:

Bartleby's signature phrase I would prefer not to expresses neither the negative potency of not-to not the instinct for delay and deferral that is essential for "spirtuality:. Rather, it stands for a lack of drive and for apathy, which seals Bartleby's doom.

This Story of Wall-Street [Bartleby] is not a tale of de-creation, but rather a story of exhaustion.

The Society of Tiredness

Han talks about doping and tiredness in an achievement society - a tiredness which is a solitary tiredness. Han draws a distinction between fundamental tiredness which is inspiring and which opens the I and makes room for the world.

Burnout Society

Strongest chapter/essay of the book. Han discusses the futility of Freudian psychoanalysis in a society free of negativity, the lack of gratification from work in this positive society, the encouragement of narcissism in positive society, depression in a positive society, social media, and other topics. He also mentions democracy's contribution to our neurological state.

Some random quotes that I found from this chapter that I liked (don't want to quote too much, I feel like I am nearly plagiarizing his book here):

They [the neurological conditions mentioned above] indicate an excess of positivity, that is, not negation so much as the inability to say no; they do not point to not-being-allowed-to-do-anything, but to being-able-to-do-everything.

Achievement society is the society of self-exploitation. The achievement-subject exploits itself until it burns out. In the process, it develops auto-aggression that often enough escalates into the violence of self-destruction.

Book Review

From here on out, I don't plan on writing quasi-book reports on everything that I read. It takes too much of my time. It is kind of ironic that I am writing this because this book bemoans the lack of contemplation of society today.

I liked this book, and I though that Han made a great argument. I think there are a lot of similarities between Tocqueville's description of the affect of society on man and Han's critique of modern society.

I wish that I would have more time for contemplation and deep attention that Han mentions in the book, but that is something that I just don't see rewarded at all in today's society. In my mind, there might be a tradeoff between not being too contemplative when you are younger so that you can be contemplative when you are older.

I really liked Han's connection between capitalism and the lack of negativity in society. This connection can clearly be seen on the part of twitter or social media where people try to market new software startups. There is really never much criticism, and people who do criticize these new potential products or services are often derided. As more and more essential products or services are essentially entirely automated, I think this lack of negativity will, if it can, increase.

In my own life, I think I have seen a version of Han's idea of too much positivity and a lack of negativity causing pain in people. As a part of my minor in college, we were tasked with trying to come up with new products or services - basically trying to create a small business - for many of the classes. As a couple of my friends were in the same minor, we sometimes discussed what we were working on or ideas. Multiple times while expressing ideas, people who were only tangentially in the conversation would say something along the lines of everything has already been done. I can relate to this fact because I don't believe I have a want of really anything, but I also recognized that the world would change and as a result new things would be made (or as a result of new things being made, the world would change). The way these people said that though is what I am trying to convey. The said it in an almost pleading tone - like they hoped nothing more would be made. I used to think of this as a fear of change, but I can also see it now as a want to not have to accept something new - a plead for some negativity for respite from the command to be open.

While I agree with most of Han's argument, I read it while I was pretty tired, and I am not sure that I understood the whole work. Is there not negativity to those who are lazy in this supposedly excessive society? Not only negativity from themselves, but negativity from society in general. I guess this negativity does not really cause the illnesses mentioned by Han until they are internalized, though.