Neoliberalism governs through guilt and debt rather than the body
Evidence
According to Deleuze, the disciplinary regime organizes itself as a ‘body’. It is a biopolitical regime. The neoliberal regime, in contrast, seems like a ‘soul’. As such, psychopolitics is its form of government: it is ‘constantly introducing an inexorable rivalry presented as healthy competition … wonderful motivation’. Motivation, projects, competition, optimization and initiative represent features of the psychopolitical technology of domination that constitutes the neoliberal regime. Above all, the snake embodies the guilt and debts (die Schuld, die Schulden) that the neoliberal regime employs as instruments of domination. — Byung-Chul Han, Psychopolitics, 53
Categorization
- DEFINE: Introduces the key definition of psychopolitics as the soul-level form of government and names its instrument, guilt/debt.
- XREF: Guilt and debt as instruments connects to Han’s earlier claims about perpetual debt as escape from freedom and self-blame converting anger into depression. — connects to: Neoliberal capitalism exploits the psyche rather than the body as its central productive force — Byung-Chul Han, Psychopolitics: Neoliberalism and New…, 63; Neoliberal culture recasts welfare-state dependence as a moral failure to embrace risk — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 338; Electroshock is disciplinary negativity while neoliberal power governs through positivity — Byung-Chul Han, Psychopolitics: Neoliberalism and New…, 86 (+2 more)
Related
- Neoliberal governance rules the psyche rather than the body (similarity 0.95)
- Neoliberal capitalism exploits the psyche rather than the body as its central productive force (similarity 0.84)
- Neoliberal power governs by seduction and anticipation, not by shock or repression (similarity 0.79)
- Electroshock is disciplinary negativity while neoliberal power governs through positivity (similarity 0.79)
Broader Connections
- Neoliberal capitalism exploits the psyche rather than the body as its central productive force
#complicates(0.85) — Byung-Chul Han, Psychopolitics, 63 - Neoliberal culture recasts welfare-state dependence as a moral failure to embrace risk
#qualifies(0.75) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 338