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The Critical Theory of Capitalism under Han Byung-chul’s Psychopolitics, Master thesis, Philosophy; Politics, The Critical Theory of Capitalism under Han Byung-chul’s Psychopolitics Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin, China 2022.

  • Since the 1980s, new changes have taken place in capitalism: neoliberalism has become the main political and economic practice in contemporary western capitalist society, while the mode of production has gradually shifted from materiality to the parallel production mode of materiality and non-materiality. The rule mode of capitalism has changed from negative power to positive power. In the operation process of contemporary capitalism, although it seems to emphasize individual freedom and liberation, it still insists on the logic of capital multiplication to rule the operation of the whole society in essence. Therefore, it also causes various social problems in the western capitalist society. How to understand the society under the power operation of contemporary neoliberalism, where its contemporary symptoms are manifested, and how to deal with it have also aroused the attention and concern of many social critical theorists, so many theories of understanding and surpassing contemporary capitalist society have emerged. Han Byung-chul’s critical theory of psychopolitics was born. The theory of >psycho-politics< has a self-evident need to be distinguished from the analytic Marxism of Fromm, Horkheimer, and Althusser. On the surface, although psychoanalysis and psychopolitics share the thinking of >spirit<, their purport and analysis methods are quite different. Psychoanalysis of Marxism is to psychoanalysis as a way to how individual psychology works interpretation in the manipulation of capitalism, and Han Byung-chul political theory put forward by the spirit is the spiritual production as the breakthrough point, discusses the new liberal regime by >self optimization> and >emotion< economic Angle used to describe the spirit be capital. In fact, this is also a critique of the capitalist ideology of deep thinking. As a social critic, Han Byung-chul was influenced by the development of contemporary capitalist society and the theories of the existing social critics. So he is not only in combination with the new situation of the contemporary developed capitalism, at the same time also learn to many social critics, especially the critical theory of Marx’s capital, the Frankfurt school’s theory of ideological criticism, aesthetic liberation theory and life, a political scientist at foucault and others thought, for their own critical theory analysis model to lay the ideological foundation. After the politics of life has become an important perspective of neoliberal governance, the politics of spirit proposed by Han Byung-chul can be regarded as an important supplement to the politics of life. At present, the thinking of governance should also shift from physical domination to spiritual thinking. Han Byung-chul ’s overall analysis of psycho-politics contains the overall logic of neoliberal power operation. In Byung-Chul Han’s analysis, burnout society, transparent society and performance society constitute three perspectives to examine contemporary capitalism, which also contains the results of the role of spiritual and political power, monitoring power and capital power. Among them, the theory of >self-exploitation< constitutes the core theory of Byung-Chul Han’s critique of psychopolitics. Whether >self-exploitation< constitutes a breakthrough point to solve contemporary problems beyond Marx’s critical view of capital. This paper attempts to understand the theory of self-exploitation put forward by Han Byung-chul from the perspective of Marx’s capital criticism. Although Han Byung-chul thinks that self-exploitation constitutes the existing state of contemporary individual alienation, he does not understand the way of individual existence from the employment labor system, so he does not get to the root of individual alienation in capitalist society. Secondly, by analyzing Marx’s critique of political economy to Han Byung-chul proposed social alienation phenomenon, we found that the power of capital as the essential power structure of the contemporary social daily life way, and Han Byungchul liberation path is not functioning, according to the theory of capital and power in modern society, but only through the liberation of consciousness, Therefore, it misses the essential elements of the critique of capitalism. Han Byung-chul’s theory of self-exploitation is not tenable in the context of political economy criticism. Self-exploitation is simply the result of modern capitalism making its methods of exploitation more secretive. Han Byung-chul’s critique of contemporary capitalist society based on the theory of psycho-politics does not surpass the theoretical roots of Marx’s critique of capital. However, Marx’s critical theory of political economy may respond to the current form of social alienation as an essential dimension of Marx’s critical theory of political economy, which criticizes the mode of production and multiplication of capital. Han Byung-chul is based on a contemporary social critical theory constructed in the development reality of contemporary capitalism. The ultimate appeal of his theory is consistent with That of Marx. Han Byung-chul perspective of contemporary capitalist society effectiveness not only embodies the contemporary of Marxism, but also face to face with modern problems put forward the path of liberation and beyond, is to rebuild the other in order to reconstruct a new relationship, at the same time through lust to open up a redemption of emotions and the individual psychology, and to call for the reconstruction of the authority, a truth so as to resist the rule of capitalism. The road of aesthetic redemption of Frankfurt School also constitutes a main way for Han Byung-chul to transcend modernity. He criticizes the logic of contemporary capital multiplication, so as to escape the alienation caused by capital to individuals through the desire for beauty, and reform individual life field through aesthetic redemption. In general, it is very valuable for Han Byung-chul to analyze the pathological features of contemporary capitalist society based on >psycho-politics<. He provided a new way of thinking about the contemporary capitalist society and deepened his criticism of the capitalist society. However, he did not clarify the root of capitalist social alienation, did not combine the basic thinking of Marx and Engels’ political economy criticism, and only gave a limited way to transcend social alienation from the subject point of view. However, Han Byung-chul’s critical theory of spiritual politics also has some practical enlightenment, that is, it urges us to reflect on the operating mechanism of contemporary capitalist society, liberate alienated labor, and promote the reform of civilization concept. [Translation: www.cnki.net, 1/2023]

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Metadaten
Author:Zi Wang
Document Type:Dissertations
Language:Chinese
Year of first Publication:2022
Release Date:2024/04/04
Format:no download and copy possible
IdNo:Wang_Zi_2022
Writings about Erich Fromm (Secondary Literature):Dissertations / Dissertationen
Erich Fromm's Library and Erich Fromm Archive:Dissertations / Dissertationen
Licence (German):
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