ISBN: 9781784785772

Paperback: 96 pages
Publisher: Verso, 2017
Language: English

Byung-Chul Han, a star of German philosophy, continues his passionate critique of neoliberalism, trenchantly describing a regime of technological domination that, in contrast to Foucault’s biopower, has discovered the productive force of the psyche. In the course of discussing all the facets of neoliberal psychopolitics fueling our contemporary crisis of freedom, Han elaborates an analytical framework that provides an original theory of Big Data and a lucid phenomenology of emotion. But this provocative essay proposes counter models too, presenting a wealth of ideas and surprising alternatives at every turn.

Translated by Erik Butler.

Byung-Chul Han (born in 1959), studied metallurgy in Korea, then philosophy, German literature, and Catholic theology in Freiburg and Munich. He has taught philosophy at the University of Basel, and philosophy and media theory at the School for Design in Karlsruhe. In 2012, he was appointed professor at the Berlin University of the Arts. Han’s other works available in English include The Burnout Society, The Transparency Society, and The Agony of Eros.