Byung-Chul Han's "The Burnout Society" examines how modern neoliberal culture instills a sense of perpetual pressure on individuals, shifting from external guilt to internalized positivity. Rather than a punitive superego, society promotes an ideal self-image that encourages relentless striving. This transformation fosters a pervasive sense of inadequacy and burnout, as individuals chase unattainable goals and suffer from mental fatigue. Han's insights challenge the notion of achievement, illustrating how constant self-improvement leads to existential crises and emotional distress.
The figure of the achievement subject gives rise to some of Han's most vivid evocations of psychic and bodily debilitation: the exhausted, depressive condition of a society that equates self-worth with productivity.
Han argues that in the achievement society, the motivating force is no longer superego guilt but the ideal image of perfection that drives individuals to exhaustion and depression.
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