The Burnout Society

Brilliant, deeply insightful, book. It talks about a few ideas, rather than just burnout (the translated English title is not very good).

The author says that depression is a result of excess of positivity, in contrast to existence of negativity. He also talks about a transition from the disciplinary society to the achievement society. Also, about profound boredom and vita contemplativa in contrast to vita activa.

I was convinced of the ingeniousness behind it, and probably didn't understand it completely.


“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.”

Even though this book can be glibly summed up as “late-stage capitalism is bad,” I found the discussion valuable, especially Han’s arguments for boredom and the vita contempliva.

Full review → chadkohalyk.com/2017/07/31/infliction-of-self/