Capitalism and the Death Drive

Regular price €49.99
Title
Quantity:
In stock with our UK publisher. 14-28 days
Delivery/Collection within 10-20 working days
14 days return policy Shipping & Delivery
A01=Byung-Chul Han
accumulation
aggression
Author_Byung-Chul Han
automation
brutality
capital
Capitalism
Category=QD
consumerism
death drive
destruction
destructiveness
digital
ecological catastrophe
empathy
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_nobargain
Freud
growth
narcissistic
optimisation
performance
violence

Product details

  • ISBN 9781509545018
  • Weight: 340g
  • Dimensions: 147 x 213mm
  • Publication Date: 28 May 2021
  • Publisher: John Wiley and Sons Ltd
  • Publication City/Country: GB
  • Product Form: Hardback
Secure checkout Fast Shipping Easy returns

What we call growth today is in fact a tumorous growth, a cancerous proliferation which is disrupting the social organism. These tumours endlessly metastasize and grow with an inexplicable, deadly vitality. At a certain point this growth is no longer productive, but rather destructive. Capitalism passed this point long ago. Its destructive forces cause not only ecological and social catastrophes but also mental collapse. The destructive compulsion to perform combines self-affirmation and self-destruction in one. We optimize ourselves to death. Brutal competition ends in destruction. It produces an emotional coldness and indifference towards others as well as towards one’s own self.

The devastating consequences of capitalism suggest that a death drive is at work. Freud initially introduced the death drive hesitantly, but later admitted that he ‘couldn’t think beyond it’ as the idea of the death drive became increasingly central to his thought. Today, it is impossible to think about capitalism without considering the death drive.

Byung-Chul Han is a Korean-born Professor of Philosophy and Cultural Studies who teaches at the Berlin University of the Arts (UdK). He is the author of more than twenty books including The Scent of TimeSaving Beauty and The Burnout Society.

More from this author