In the new cultural climate, the misconception that happiness, positivity and motivation to become an entrepreneur are free choices creates psychological pressure on individuals. People who feel compelled to create their own story are being exploited voluntarily without realizing it. While the self’s perception of pure self-development is supported by positive psychology discourses, in the social, political and economic context, rights advocacy is replaced by depression.
The public was privatized, transformed into the personal and transferred from there to the field of psychology. It is no longer societal problems that need to be fixed, but personal problems.
Historical processes produce various norms in different conditions. The normative ideals of the period affect the shaping of the self-existence. Today’s economy-based ideology shapes the self through the definition of consumption, digital fame and emptied self-assertion. Unlike previous periods, neoliberalism, with its concentrated and expanded form of capitalism, demands to construct the subject rather than controlling it. The construction of the subject by external intervention indicates the loss of the authenticity of the individual and the decontextualization of the self.
While the neoliberal concept of the subject pushes the subject into certain necessary states, it creates three discourses for the self: the normal self, the developing self, and the producing self.[1] The self is first decontextualized, and then in the new context, people are asked to be their own entrepreneurs and to treat themselves as companies. The person is demanded to leave all his non-economic qualities behind; it turns into an investment object that needs to realize itself and gain skills and equipment. The investment object, the neoliberal self, must develop itself within the boundless possibilities, make it marketable, and acquire self-management strategies such as risk-taking skills, openness to change, and ways of coping with insecurity. The self must be prepared to properly use neoliberal possibilities and must constantly educate itself in order to profit.
Investment object: Subject
It is expected that the subject, who turns into an investment object, will take initiatives with potential income. Every relationship to be established should have a possible return. This means that the existence of the other, which affects the self, has evolved into profit-loss calculations. While the rapid consumption and surfaceization of relationships is normalized, all contacts that do not provide personal benefit are cast aside. Even romantic relationships, where emotions are expected to be at the forefront, are evaluated by our human resources office. It is accepted if the person with whom we will establish emotional intimacy has income potential for our personal company. In the sector where individuality is exalted, friendship relations only turn into ‘network’. On the other hand, in order to be successful, those around us can be violated if necessary, and an aggressive and egocentric stance emerges under competitive conditions. While it is implicitly imprinted on the minds that every action is permissible for individual success, values such as unity, solidarity and cooperation, the condition of human survival, are blunted.
The happiness of the subject is also his own responsibility
While neoliberalism interferes with the subject with the necessity of the self to be its own entrepreneur, it is not satisfied with the subject’s obedience; by infiltrating his soul, it changes the subject’s view of himself. It gives the self responsibility rather than the authority to create itself. It determines what the self should turn into and advises the subject to reach these determined limits. The subject that turns into a project should be creative, visionary, innovative and productive; he says to use all this creativity and imagination for potential income. However, it doesn’t mention what to do when one cannot be creative, productive or a good personal entrepreneur. The system, which decides what we can and cannot be, declares the perpetrator of unhappiness to be an individual when we fail (!). Because, if the person is unsuccessful, he has not been able to evaluate the opportunities presented to him correctly, he has not been able to use the resources and has not been perfect enough.
The tyranny of positivity
As autonomy is brought to the fore in the cultural climate transformed by neoliberalism, happiness turns into a feeling that an individual should achieve as an entrepreneur himself. If the person feels depressed, he cannot see life and events on the positive side; Because there is no factor other than himself in front of the unhappiness of the individual, the approach puts happiness completely in the individual’s domain. As a result, the tyranny of positivity begins on the individual: you must be happy, you must be positive, you must smile, you must see the positive, you must not complain, you must motivate yourself, you must realize yourself without any pressure!
The neoliberal perception of happiness allows people to deal only with their own mental state without being under the pressure of anyone (!) instead of approaching social relations and the economic, social and political dimensions of the problems. Thus, inequalities in daily life do not become visible.[2] In a model that has a vision and shows that all values can be violated for the sake of being successful, it is not expected to deal with the current power or make social inquiries. Because the responsibility of the public was privatized, transformed into a personal one and transferred from there to the field of psychology. It is no longer societal problems that need to be fixed, but personal problems.
Motivational coach instead of revolutionary
Byung-Chul Han, who mentions that pain lies in the yeast of the revolution, emphasizes that while we are busy with the treatment of our own soul, we overlook the social relations that cause social distortions and the depression has replaced the revolution.[3] The responsibility of the fear and insecurity we experience is not the power or society, but ourselves. Instead of revolutionaries heralding change, life coaches, personal development experts, motivation coaches are on the scene; because they prevent the emergence of all negative emotions that trigger change, such as anger, discontent, boredom. Embrace every negativity experienced, turn them into opportunities and contribute to the ignoring of socio-political and socio-economic obstacles with the motto of improving yourself. In the new cultural climate, the illusion that happiness, positivity and motivation to be self-entrepreneur are free choices creates psychological pressure on individuals. . People who feel compelled to create their own story are being exploited voluntarily without realizing it. While the self’s perception of pure self-development is supported by positive psychology discourses, in the social, political and economic context, rights advocacy is replaced by depression. As individuation rises, solidarity slackens and the sense of unity that makes man superior to nature and life disappears under implicit pressure.
