What is Power?

Power is a pervasive phenomenon yet there is little consensus on what it is and how it should be understood. In this book the cultural theorist Byung-Chul Han develops a fresh and original perspective on the nature of power, shedding new light on this key feature of social and political life.

Power is commonly defined as a causal relation: an individuals power is the cause that produces a change of behaviour in someone else against the latters will. Han rejects this view, arguing that power is better understood as a mediation betweenego andalter which creates a complex array of reciprocal interdependencies. Power can also be exercised not only against the other but also within and through the other, and this involves a much higher degree of mediation. This perspective enables us to see that power and freedom are not opposed to one another but are manifestations of the same power, differing only in the degree of mediation.

This highly original account of power will be of great interest to students and scholars of philosophy and of social, political and cultural theory, as well as to anyone seeking to understand the many ways in which power shapes our lives today.

Byung-Chul Han is a Korean-born Professor of Philosophy and Cultural Studies who teaches at the University of the Arts (UdK) in Berlin. He is the author of more than 20 books includingThe Transparency Society andThe Burnout Society.

Preface vii

1. The Logic of Power 1

2. The Semantics of Power 22

3. The Metaphysics of Power 41

4. The Politics of Power 61

5. The Ethics of Power 80

Notes 98

Bibliography 123