Capitalism and The Death Drive

A few weeks ago, I read an essay by Byung-Chul Han titled “Capitalism and the Death Drive”. I thought it was wonderful; Han beautifully lays out how Sigmund Freud’s concept of the “death drive”—the idea that all humans have an innate, unconscious desire to self-destruct, to be inanimate once again—connects to capitalism’s self-destructive nature. It is a short essay, and he hardly proves that capitalism’s resource expenditure mirrors the self-destruction that Freud argues we see in humans. But proving that would be impossible because Freud never fully developed his concept of the “death drive,” and capitalism is a system that, at times, contradicts many innate aspects of human desire. In fact, that is a fundamental critique of capitalism: that, in a system where capital is king, market desires precede human desires. I want to expand on Han’s essay by sharing a theme I’ve picked up on in my peers.

Yesterday, I was walking through my school when I saw a friend sitting on a bench in a hallway with his head down. It was after classes had finished, so his very presence was strange. He is one of the most energetic kids I know. He’s witty, kind, and, for better or for worse, he is rarely caught with anything but a smile on his face. Naturally, I went over to check in on him. He had clearly been crying, but he took quite a bit of poking and prodding before he explained to me what was causing his sadness. Eventually, he looked up at me and said, his voice cracking as he spoke, “I lost another friend today. Nine revolver to the head.” This was the second friend he had lost that year, and there was nothing I could say in that moment to slow his racing mind. He shared with me that he, too, had dealt with suicidal ideation, but when I tried to comfort him, to support him, he refused me. He said to me, “I have nothing to complain about, my life is pretty good.” He paused for a moment before continuing, “on paper, at least.” He comes from a wealthy family, attends private school alongside me, and was granted admission to an Ivy League university a month prior. In that moment, he was numb to his pain. He had experienced so much loss, but did not even believe that he had the right to his own, worsening depression.

Many people criticize neoliberalism because it creates individualistic people: people defining themselves by their capitalistic success, people who see their identity through the number in their bank account. The result of this phenomena is people who are unsuccessful at acquiring capital feeling like failures, feeling like their struggle is their own fault. Ironically, the people who are successful in acquiring capital and status are hardly fulfilled by their success. Privilege does not mix with unfufillement in a capitalist system, and the wealthy and privileged are left feeling confused, as if they have no right to be hurt. Fundamentally, they know others have it worse. Capitalism creates a society where the oppressors are also the oppressed: unable to be free from their own oppressive roles. Thus, the oppressor is left with nothing but meaningless comfort and told by their peers that they must be grateful. The oppressed work harder, upset at their own failures—which the ideology of neoliberalism ensures is attributed to the individual and not the system—and eventually both the oppressed and the oppressor burn out. They are both left with nothing. My friend felt empty, destroyed by the loss of his friends, yet he still felt guilty for not being pacified by his privilege.

This is the logic of many Newtoners: privilege and wealth should pacify our desires, and thus, we must protect them at all costs. Instead of working towards a true liberal politics, their guilt manifests into fear. They fear affordable housing, a more liberal education for their children, and, god-forbid, poor people in their neighborhood. All of these examples are scary because they require a reckoning with the self. A reckoning with the idea that we are not simply winners and others losers. And in a society where life is easy for no one, this reckoning is simply not an option, it brings with it too much uncertainity.