Why We’re All Burning Out | Byung-Chul Han’s Warning to the World
Aren’t we living in the best age ever!? I mean, look at the world around us! Modern society grants us endless possibilities. Contrary to our grandparents (and their parents), who were told to just pray to God, have kids, work in the factory, and shut up, we, the children of modernity and neoliberalism, can become anything we want! We can become CEOs of our own startups, hustlers, innovators, YouTube stars, Instagram models, you name it! You only have to work hard and live on rice and beans for five years, and you’ll get there! And, yes, of course, this applies to everyone! So, get off your lazy ass, start grinding, listen to Gary Vee, and you’ll be among the rich and successful in no time. Because hey, you don’t want to be a loser, do you? No, of course not!
So, what are you waiting for? Get your Grindset on, and start crushing it! Beneath this shiny surface of boundless opportunity, there’s, unfortunately, a darker side. South Korean-born German philosopher Byung-Chul Han is concerned that our capitalist society is increasingly leading humanity toward collective burnout and many other problems, such as narcissism and hyperattention. His book The Burnout Society explains the effects of today’s achievement society and why people are more exhausted and disconnected than ever before. This video explores Byung-Chul Han’s warning to the world: The Burnout Society. If you want to help keep this channel going, become a Patreon supporter. You’ll get access to ALL Einzelgänger videos ad-free.
Byung-Chul Han noticed a significant shift in what motivates us, particularly in the contexts of work, self-improvement, and social interactions. In the past, it was the case that mainly external control, such as punishment and strict rules, dictated people’s behavior. But times have changed. Instead of external forces imposing our actions and goals on us, we are now internally motivated. It’s not about obedience to some authority anymore while serving the greater good; it’s about taking leadership over our own lives to achieve, self-optimize, and excel.
Han’s book thoroughly examines our shift from a disciplinary society to an achievement society. He mentions the world described by philosopher Michel Foucault: a place of hospitals, psychiatric facilities, prisons, barracks, and factories, which we replaced with fitness centers, office towers, airports, banks, and shopping malls. At first sight, a rather grim, authoritarian society based on punishment and obedience, characterized by rules and restrictions, has upgraded into this liberated, sparkling society characterized by freedom and opportunity. Western capitalist neoliberalism is where it’s at, people. It’s the realm of “unlimited can,” as Han puts it. Here, we can become the best versions of ourselves.
Isn’t it great to have all this freedom, all these resources and opportunities, all these directions we can take our lives toward? I mean, take our poor ancestors from the Industrial Age, for example; they could only have dreamt of having the opportunity to climb the corporate ladder, being able to choose between twelve types of SpongeBob toothpaste and travel the world, scavenging tourist trap after tourist trap, gathering Instagram selfies with some vague resemblance of the Taj Mahal in the background to keep up with the Joneses on social media.
The insidious thing about the achievement society is that, as members of it, we think we’re free, but, as Han makes clear, we’re not. The achievement society also has its confinements, but they’re so hidden and paradoxical that most people don’t even realize it. The real Matrix is today’s society, a celebrated illusion of freedom and boundless opportunity, which, in reality, is one of the most ingenious prisons ever created. And the ‘freedom’ we fight for (and some are even willing to die for) is illusory. We’re not free.
One of the fundamental differences between disciplinary and achievement societies is what Han called the “negativity of Should” ver...