Uploaded May 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago

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"Today, everyone is an auto-exploiting laborer in his or her own enterprise. People are now master and slave in one." — Byung-Chul Han

Byung-Chul Han argues that the contemporary neoliberal subject is not a disciplined subject in the Foucauldian sense — it is an *achievement-subject*. We have replaced the external master (the factory foreman, the corporate boss) with an internalized one. Han writes: "Today, we do not deem ourselves subjugated subjects, but rather projects: always refashioning and reinventing ourselves." And: "Today, everyone is an auto-exploiting labourer in his or her own enterprise. People are now master and slave in one."

The most thorough oppression is the one you do to yourself.

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