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diff --git a/books/sociedade/burnout-society.md b/books/sociedade/burnout-society.md deleted file mode 100644 index de995c0..0000000 --- a/books/sociedade/burnout-society.md +++ /dev/null @@ -1,335 +0,0 @@ -[[!meta title="The Burnout Society"]] - -* Author: Byung-Chul Han - -## Nano-resenha - -Muito interessante. No entando, tomando emprestado a prática do autor de citar -para contradizer, é muito complicado definir a vigência de paradigmas de forma -estaque. Paradigmas se sobrepõem, coexistem. - -## Excerpts - -### The immunological age - - The past century was an immunological age. The epoch sought to distinguish - clearly between inside and outside, friend and foe, self and other. The Cold - War also followed an immunological pattern. Indeed, the immunological paradigm - of the last century was commanded by the vocabulary of the Cold War, an - altogether military dispositive. Attack and defense determine immunological - action. The immunological dispositive, which extends beyond the strictly social - and onto the whole of communal life, harbors a blind spot: everything foreign - is simply combated and warded off. The object of immune defense is the foreign - as such. Even if it has no hostile intentions, even if it poses no danger, it - is eliminated on the basis of its Otherness. - -### Multitasking, hyperactivity and boredom - - Excessive positivity also expresses itself as an excess of stimuli, - information, and impulses. It radically changes the structure and economy of - attention. Perception becomes fragmented and scattered. Moreover, the mounting - burden of work makes it necessary to adopt particular dispositions toward time - and attention [Zeit-und Aufmerksamkeitstechnik]; this in turn affects the - structure of attention and cognition. The attitude toward time and environment - known as “multitasking” does not represent civilizational progress. Human - beings in the late-modern society of work and information are not the only ones - capable of multitasking. Rather, such an aptitude amounts to regression. - Multitasking is commonplace among wild animals. It is an attentive technique - indispensable for survival in the wilderness. - - An animal busy with eating must also attend to other tasks. For example, it - must hold rivals away from its prey. It must constantly be on the lookout, lest - it be eaten while eating. At the same time, it must guard its young and keep an - eye on its sexual partner. In the wild, the animal is forced to divide its - attention between various activities. That is why animals are incapable of - contemplative immersion—either they are eating or they are copulating. The - animal cannot immerse itself contemplatively in what it is facing [Gegenüber] - because it must also process background events. Not just multitasking but also - activities such as video games produce a broad but flat mode of attention, - which is similar to the vigilance of a wild animal. Recent social developments - and the structural change of wakefulness are bringing human society deeper and - deeper into the wilderness. For example, bullying has achieved pandemic - dimensions. Concern for the good life, which also includes life as a member of - the community, is yielding more and more to the simple concern for survival. - - We owe the cultural achievements of humanity—which include philosophy—to deep, - contemplative attention. 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. A rash - change of focus between different tasks, sources of information, and processes - characterizes this scattered mode of awareness. Since it also has a low - tolerance for boredom, it does not admit the profound idleness that benefits - the creative process. - -### Rage - - Rage is the capacity to interrupt a given state and make a new state begin. - -### Positivity - - The computer calculates more quickly than the human brain and takes on - inordinate quantities of data without difficulty because it is free of all - Otherness. It is a machine of positivity [Positivmaschine]. Because of autistic - self-referentiality, because negativity is absent, an idiot savant can perform - what otherwise only a calculator can do. The general positivization of the - world means that both human beings and society are transforming into autistic - performance-machines. - -### Tiredness - - Tiredness in achievement society is solitary tiredness; it has a separating and - isolating effect. - -### Psyche - - The psyche of today’s achievement-subject differs from the psyche of the - disciplinary subject. The ego, as Freud defines it, is a well-known - disciplinary subject. Freud’s psychic apparatus is a repressive apparatus with - commandments and prohibitions that subjugate and repress. Like disciplinary - society, the psychic apparatus sets up walls, thresholds, borders, and guards. - For this reason, Freudian psychoanalysis is only possible in repressive - societies that found their organization on the negativity of prohibitions and - commandments. Contemporary society, however, is a society of achievement; - increasingly, it is shedding the negativity of prohibitions and commandments - and presenting itself as a society of freedom. The modal verb that determines - achievement society is not the Freudian Should, but Can. This social - transformation entails intrapsychic restructuring. The late-modern - achievement-subject possesses an entirely different psyche than the - obedience-subject for whom Freud conceived psychoanalysis. Freud’s psychic - apparatus is dominated by negation [Verneinung], repression, and fear of - transgression. The ego is a “seat of anxiety” [Angststätte].3 In contrast, the - late-modern achievement-subject is poor in negation. It is a subject of - affirmation. Were the unconscious necessarily connected to the negativity of - negation and repression [Verdrängung], then the late-modern achievement-subject - would no longer have an unconscious. It would be a post-Freudian ego. The - Freudian unconscious is not a formation that exists outside of time. It is a - product of the disciplinary society, dominated by the negativity of - prohibitions and repression, that we have long since left behind. - - The work performed by the Freudian ego involves the fulfillment of duty, above - all. On this score, it shares a feature with the Kantian obedience-subject. For - Kant, the conscience occupies the position of the superego. Kant’s moral - subject is subject to “power” [Gewalt], too: Every man has a conscience and - finds himself observed, threatened, and, in general, kept in awe (respect - coupled with fear) by an internal judge; and this authority watching over the - law in him is not something that he himself (voluntarily) makes, but something - incorporated into his being.4 The Kantian subject, like the Freudian subject, - is internally divided. It acts at the behest of Another; however, this Other is - also part of itself: Now, this original intellectual and (since it is the - thought of duty) moral predisposition called conscience is peculiar in that, - although its business is a business of man with himself, one constrained by his - reason sees himself constrained to carry it on as at the bidding of another - person.5 - - On the basis of this split, Kant speaks of a “doubled self,” or “dual - personality.”6 The moral subject is simultaneously defendant and judge. The - obedience-subject is not a subject of desire or pleasure, but a subject of - duty. Thus, the Kantian subject pursues the work of duty and represses its - “inclinations.” Hereby, God—that “omnipotent moral being”—does not appear only - as the instance of punishment and condemnation, but also (and this is a very - important fact, which seldom receives due attention) as the instance of - gratification. As the subject of duty, the moral subject represses all - pleasurable inclinations in favor of virtue; God, who epitomizes morality, - rewards such painfully performed labors with happiness [Glückseligkeit]. - Happiness is “distributed in exact proportion to morality [Sittlichkeit].”7 The - moral subject, which accepts pain for morality, may be entirely certain of - gratification. There is no threat of a crisis of gratification occurring, for - God does not deceive: He is trustworthy. - - The late-modern achievement-subject does not pursue works of duty. Its maxims - are not obedience, law, and the fulfillment of obligation, but rather freedom, - pleasure, and inclination. Above all, it expects the profits of enjoyment from - work. It works for pleasure and does not act at the behest of the Other. - Instead, it hearkens mainly to itself. After all, it must be a self-starting - entrepreneur [Unternehmer seiner selbst]. In this way, it rids itself of the - negativity of the “commanding [gebietender] Other.” However, such freedom from - the Other is not just emancipating and liberating. The dialectic of freedom - means developing new constraints. Freedom from the Other switches into - narcissistic self-relation, which occasions many of the psychic disturbances - afflicting today’s achievement-subject. - - The absence of relation to the Other causes a crisis of gratification. As - recognition, gratification presupposes the instance of the Other (or the “Third - Party”). It is impossible to reward oneself or to acknowledge oneself. For - Kant, God represents the instance of gratification: He rewards and acknowledges - moral accomplishment. Because the structure of gratification has been - disturbed, the achievement-subject feels compelled to perform more and more. - The absence of relation to the Other, then, represents the transcendental - condition for the crisis of gratification to arise in the first place. However, - contemporary relations of production are also responsible. A definitive work - [Werk], as the result of completed labor [Arbeit], is no longer possible today. - Contemporary relations of production stand in the way of conclusion. Instead, - one works into the open. Conclusive forms [Abschlußformen] with a beginning and - an end prove wanting. - - [...] - - Hysteria is a typical psychic malady of the disciplinary society that witnessed - the founding of psychoanalysis. It presumes the negativity of repression, - prohibition, and negation, which lead to the formation of the unconscious. - Drive-representations [Triebrepräsentanzen] that have been pushed off into the - unconscious manifest themselves, by means of “conversion,” as bodily symptoms - that mark a person unambiguously. Hysterics exhibit a characteristic morphe. - Therefore, hysteria admits morphology; this fact distinguishes it from - depression. - - According to Freud, “character” is a phenomenon of negativity, for it does not - achieve form without the censorship that occurs in the psychic apparatus. - Accordingly, he defines it as “a precipitate of abandoned object-cathexes.”10 - When the ego becomes aware of object-cathexes taking place in the id, it either - lets them be or fights them off through the process of repression. Character - contains the history of repression within itself. It represents a determinate - relation of the ego to the id and to the superego. Whereas the hysteric shows a - characteristic morphe, the depressive is formless; indeed, he is amorphous. He - is a man without character. One might generalize the observation and declare - that the late-modern ego has no character. Carl Schmitt says it is a “sign of - inner conflict to have more than one real enemy.”11 The same holds for friends. - Following Schmitt, having more than one true friend would betoken a lack of - character and definition. One’s many friends on Facebook would offer further - proof of the late-modern ego’s lack of character and definition. In positive - terms, such a human being without character is flexible, able to assume any - form, play any role, or perform any function. This shapelessness—or, - alternately, flexibility—creates a high degree of economic efficiency. - - Psychoanalysis presupposes the negativity of repression and negation. The - unconscious and repression, Freud stresses, are “correlative” to the greatest - extent. In contrast, the process of repression or negation plays no role in - contemporary psychic maladies such as depression, burnout, and ADHD. Instead, - they 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 - [Nicht-Dürfen], but to being-able-to-do-everything [Alles-Können]. Therefore, - psychoanalysis offers no way of approaching these phenomena. Depression is not - a consequence of repression that stems from instances of domination such as the - superego. Nor does depression permit “transference,” which offers indirect - signs of what has been repressed. - - With its idea of freedom and deregulation, contemporary achievement society is - massively dismantling the barriers and prohibitions that constituted - disciplinary society. The dismantling of negativity serves to enhance - achievement. Matters reach a general state of dissolution and - boundlessness—indeed, a state of general promiscuity—from which no energy of - repression issues. Where restrictive sexual morality does not prevent the - impulses of drives from being discharged, paranoid delusions do not emerge—such - as those of Daniel Paul Schreber, which Freud traced back to repressed - homosexuality. The “Schreber Case” typifies nineteenth-century disciplinary - society, where the strict prohibition of homosexuality—indeed, of pleasure and - desire as a whole—predominated. - - The unconscious plays no part in depression. It no longer governs the psychic - apparatus of the depressive achievement-subject. - - [...] - - Freud understands melancholy as a destructive relationship to the Other that - has been made part of the self through narcissistic identification. In this - process, the originary conflicts with the Other are internalized and - transformed into a conflicted self-relationship that leads to - ego-impoverishment and auto-aggression. However, the depressive disorder of the - contemporary achievement-subject does not follow upon a conflicted, ambivalent - relation to the Other that now has gone missing. No dimension of alterity is - involved. Depression—which often culminates in burnout—follows from - overexcited, overdriven, excessive self-reference that has assumed destructive - traits. The exhausted, depressive achievement-subject grinds itself down, so to - speak. It is tired, exhausted by itself, and at war with itself. Entirely - incapable of stepping outward, of standing outside itself, of relying on the - Other, on the world, it locks its jaws on itself; paradoxically, this leads the - self to hollow and empty out. It wears out in a rat race it runs against - itself. - - New media and communications technology are also diluting being-for-otherness - [Sein zum Anderen]. The virtual world is poor in alterity and the resistance - [Widerständlichkeit] it displays. In virtual spaces, the ego can practically - move independent of the “reality principle,” which would provide a principle of - alterity and resistance. In all the imaginary spaces of virtuality, the - narcissistic ego encounters itself first and foremost. Increasingly, - virtualization and digitalization are making the real disappear, which makes - itself known above all through its resistance. The real is a stay in the double - meaning of the word. It not only offers interruption and resistance, but also - affords stopping and support. - - The late-modern achievement-subject, with a surplus of options at its disposal, - proves incapable of intensive bonding. Depression severs all attachments. - Mourning differs from depression above all through its strong libidinal - attachment to an object. In contrast, depression is objectless and therefore - undirected. It is important to distinguish depression from melancholy. - Melancholy is preceded by the experience of loss. Therefore it still stands in - a relation—namely, negative relation—to the absent thing or party. In contrast, - depression is cut off from all relation and attachment. It utterly lacks - gravity [Schwerkraft]. - - Mourning occurs when an object with a strong libidinal cathexis goes missing. - One who mourns is entirely with the beloved Other. The late-modern ego devotes - the majority of libidinal energy to itself. The remaining libido is distributed - and scattered among continually multiplying contacts and fleeting - relationships. It proves quite easy to withdraw the weakened libido from the - Other and to use it to cathect new objects. There is no need for drawn-out, - pain-filled “dream work.” In social networks, the function of “friends” is - primarily to heighten narcissism by granting attention, as consumers, to the - ego exhibited as a commodity. - - [...] - - Seen in this light, depression no longer represents the “lost relation to - conflict,” but rather the absent relation to an objective instance of decision - that would produce conclusive forms and thereby assure an instance of - gratification. - -### Burnout - - Burnout, which often precedes depression, does not point to a sovereign - individual who has come to lack the power to be the “master of himself.” - Rather, burnout represents the pathological consequence of voluntary - self-exploitation. The imperative of expansion, transformation, and - self-reinvention—of which depression is the flipside—presumes an array of - products tied to identity. The more often one changes one’s identity, the more - production is dynamized. Industrial disciplinary society relied on unchanging - identity, whereas postindustrial achievement society requires a flexible person - to heighten production. - - [...] - - The late-modern achievement-subject is subject to no one. In fact, it is no - longer a subject in the etymological sense (subject to, sujet à). It - positivizes itself; indeed, it liberates itself into a project. However, the - change from subject to project does not make power or violence disappear. - Auto-compulsion, which presents itself as freedom, takes the place of - allo-compulsion. This development is closely connected to capitalist relations - of production. Starting at a certain level of production, auto-exploitation is - significantly more efficient and brings much greater returns [leistungsstärker] - than allo-exploitation, because the feeling of freedom attends it. 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. The project turns - out to be a projectile that the achievement-subject is aiming at itself. - - [...] - - In view of the ego ideal, the real ego appears as a loser buried in - self-reproach. The ego wages war with itself. The society of positivity, which - thinks itself free of all foreign constraints, becomes entangled in destructive - self-constraints. Psychic maladies such as burnout and depression, the - exemplary maladies of the twenty-first century, all display auto-aggressive - traits. Exogenous violence is replaced by self-generated violence, which is - more fatal than its counterpart inasmuch as the victim of such violence - considers itself free. - - [...] - - The capitalist system is switching from allo-exploitation to auto-exploitation - in order to accelerate. On the basis of the paradoxical freedom it holds, the - achievement-subject is simultaneously perpetrator and victim, master and slave. - Freedom and violence now coincide. - - [...] - - The life of homo sacer in achievement society is holy and bare for another - reason entirely. It is bare because, stripped of all transcendent value, it has - been reduced to the immanency of vital functions and capacities, which are to - be maximized by any and all means. The inner logic of achievement society - dictates its evolution into a doping society. Life reduced to bare, vital - functioning is life to be kept healthy unconditionally. Health is the new - goddess.31 That is why bare life is holy. - - The homines sacri of achievement society also differ from those of the society - of sovereignty on another score. They cannot be killed at all. Their life - equals that of the undead. They are too alive to die, and too dead to live. |