SOCIETY, POWER, THE OTHER AND RACISM

PRELIMINARY NOTES ON RACISM IN THE THOUGHTS OF BYUNG-CHUL HAN

Abstract

The present text preliminarily addresses the issue of racism in contemporary society, relating it to Byung-Chul Han's philosophy. The author notes that racism persists as a current problem and seeks to investigate how contemporary philosophy, especially Han's work, addresses this issue. Han does not directly address the theme of racism in his work, but the preliminary work considers that racism is an underlying and aggravated element in contemporary times, even if it is not explicitly exposed in Han's work. Therefore, a careful and opposed reading is necessary to provide clues to understand Han's understanding of the subject. In this context, racism can survive in the Performance Society, as it is a discriminatory and segregationist reality. Those who do not fit into the context of productive action are excluded and marginalized. Han argues that this society is exclusive and creates social divisions, annihilating the negativity of others and producing reactions and struggles on the part of excluded minorities. In short, the summary of the passage points out that racism persists as a problem in contemporary society, and Han's work provides clues to understanding how psychopolitical power operates in this context, influencing the dispositions of subjects and generating exclusion and violence.