The Burnout Society

Buying chul han isn't the easiest to read or follow, but this is a short book and can be read in a few days (or faster depending on reading comprehension skills). This book talks a lot about the influence of social media and modern society on the mental health epidemic plaguing technological societies, drawing parallels between depression and ADHD with Internet dependency. Highly recommended.

It gets 4 stars because its ideas are valuable, and I think they’re worth examining. It’s dense, and it has some prerequisites that make it less accessible to the average viewer. I’d suggest knowing some basic Hegel and Freud beforehand, but everything else is pretty accessible to a quick google/ Wikipedia search. I’ll probably reread it again, since it applies to me so much.

A book I feel I need to re-read once a year. Stretching concepts around how to frame life. I echo what others have said: this is a dense read. It took me a while to read the first three pages. Use an AI to add richness to chapters with follow up questions and summaries.

Crazy insightful. Very short but really difficult read if you're (like me) not fluent in psychology and philosophy (Nietzsche, Freud; ego/id/ego-ideal/etc). Han's greatest insight - we are have moved from a disciplinary society to an achievement society. Disciplinary society= should; commandments and prohibitions; authority; under God; gratification Achievement society= can; absolute freedom; self rule; depression One of his most fascinating points (I don't have any reason to believe Han is a Christian): God is not just the source of "punishment and condemnation, but also the [source] of gratification". The follower of God knows that if he labors to conform to His standards and "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." Conversely - the modern achiever, in pursuing pleasure and freedom faces a crisis of gratification. "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." One's work is never done. There is no one to say you have completed your labor: "Well done good and faithful servant…enter into the JOY of your master." "the feeling of having achieved a goal never occurs" Thus- Depression is THE ultimate expression of the achievement society. "Depression is the sickness of a society that suffers from excessive positivity. It reflects a humanity waging war on itself." "the society of achievement is generating excessive tiredness and exhaustion." "Today’s achievement-subject deems itself free when in fact it is bound" "The achievement-subject… is lord and master of itself. However, the disappearance of domination does not entail freedom. [He is enslaved] to the free constraint of maximizing achievement."

I order this book because a quote from it was given in a video I was watching. This book is a very dense read. From the beginning chapter I felt like there were books that should have been read as prerequisites to this book. There were terms used that covered entire philosophies that I was not familiar with. I struggled up to page 16 and threw in the towel. I admit defeat. The book is only 52 pages long, excluding the reference section. This is a very specialized book and I didn't have the appropriate background to understand it. It is definitely a scholarly work that I'm not educated enough to fully grasp the concepts. It's been a long time since a book has made me feel uneducated.

The book and thesis takes charge of a subject ignored by most in modern society and its opinions are incredibly potent with the rise of modern LLM driven productivity.

I hear this referenced a lot in talks about burnout, but it was not at all what I imagined. If you are looking for a accessible book that dives into the burnout epidemic in modern society, this is not it. Despite being rather short, it is a very dense book that references a lot of older psychological works. Unless you are familiar with them, it will hamper your understanding of what the author is talking about. In practical terms, it's more a high-level dive into psychology than a book dedicated to helping the average reader understand burnout. I definitely got the sense that it was not written for me. It felt more like the author published his thesis than wrote a book for people to read.

Han is a mastermind. In a short volume he calls into question the worlds of Foucault and Boudrillard in a way that few other philosophers have in much longer works. His identification of the violence of the same, the neurological age, and the death of discipline will inform thinking for years to come.

The book's content is amazing. However, the printing is cheap: the paper is of poor quality, and the letters are quite small. It is horrible to read.

Byung-Chul not only makes a crude analyse of our society, he is pointing out at the main causes of human desarray in our western culture. Smart and amazing. Don't miss it.

I can’t remember why I bought this book. But I wish I hadn’t. On reading the first chapter in which Han rather unwisely dismisses the ages of epidemics, both viral and bacterial (the book was written in 2010) which in hindsight -and even then- was wildly premature. Similarly no one has told Trump or other populists that the “immigrant is not an immunological Other, not a foreigner who poses a real danger, or of whom one is afraid”. To the extent that I understand Han’s thesis, it has been overtaken by events. But to be fair, that extent is extremely limited, on account of the concepts being presented in an extraordinarily obtuse, unduly Byzantine and obscure use of language. I have the feeling that if I were to read this tract in the original German I’d find it easier to digest. And I don’t speak a word of German. There, I’ve said it - this particular Emperor is stark naked. DNF.

Byung-Chul Han is one of the sharpest thinkers of our age, and he clearly showcases his ability to observe & analyze the subtle aspects of modern life and existence in a completely different way. And it's a better explanation for depression and burnout than most other theories in circulation.

This short but seminal work preceded Burnout syndrome by over a decade. It clearly states, in language that invites the reader in instead of confusing him, its thesis: modern achievement based society is sick, yet it has convinced itself it is the only way.