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diff --git a/books/sociology/burnout-society.md b/books/sociology/burnout-society.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..de995c0 --- /dev/null +++ b/books/sociology/burnout-society.md @@ -0,0 +1,335 @@ +[[!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. |