The Neoliberal Worker in the Vision of Severance and Byung-Chul Han

The series Severance (2022), created by Dan Erickson and directed by Ben Stiller, presents a disturbing portrayal of a near future in which employees of the company Lumon Industries undergo a surgical procedure that separates their personal lives from their work lives. This process results in two dissociated “selves” inhabiting the same body, generating a disconnection from the laboring existence. It effectively creates a kind of double life, as—at least in appearance—it suppresses any interaction between the subjectivity of the worker and the coercive imposition of productivity.

This paradoxical scenario can be analogously compared to the critique advanced by philosopher Byung-Chul Han regarding the figure of the neoliberal worker. In his view, the worker is not only compelled to maximize productivity but also internalizes this pressure, believing that their value as a human being depends entirely on performance. In works such as The Burnout Society, Psychopolitics: Neoliberalism and New Technologies of Power, The Agony of Eros, and The Scent of Time (or Vita Contemplativa: In Praise of Inactivity), Han shows how neoliberal society, under the imperatives of optimization and efficiency, ultimately fragments and strips the subject of any genuine human experience, reducing them to mere animal laborers.

Likewise, neoliberal society in the current context has succeeded in transforming the notion of work and productivity, setting itself apart from traditional disciplinary societies—such as the industrial society—which regulated the individual through external rules and the imposition of discipline. In contrast, neoliberalism turns the subject into its project, generating a constant demand for self-exploitation in pursuing success. However, this is a trap devised by neoliberalism, which presents freedom as bait because: “The neoliberal regime hides its coercive structure behind the apparent freedom of the individual, who is no longer understood as a subject subjected (subject to), but rather as the development of a project” (Han, 2018, p. 33).

Capitalism, therefore, has become complacent. Instead of suppressing the subject, it comforts and stimulates them, intoxicating them with positivity to make them easier to control. The contemporary subject lives under an illusion, believing they satisfy their own needs, when in reality, they are at the mercy of capital: “We no longer work to meet our needs, but for capital. Capital generates its own needs, which we mistakenly perceive as our own” (Han, 2014, p. 19).

In line with this, Severance offers a vision of what could intensify such a dynamic, particularly when workers—known as “Intus” (the self confined to work)—have no knowledge of or access to external reality, remaining entirely isolated from their counterpart, the so-called “Exus” (the self freed from work), who leads a life detached from the world of labor.

In this way, the characters cannot integrate their different facets and lose any sense of a unified identity. This radical disconnection triggers a fragmentation of the self that becomes an inherent condition of life under the neoliberal regime, as the employees of Lumon Industries are living examples of alienation. Here, the autonomization of the worker reaches its most extreme form since the possibility of reflecting on one’s labor is eliminated. Even more so, considering Intus and Exus are denied access to their memories, the dissociation prevents any critical reflection on work conditions and transforms labor into a mechanical activity aimed solely at increasing productivity, stripped of all meaning.

On the other hand, in Severance, control is exercised over the workers’ bodies through their disconnection from personal life. This process is further externalized through digital monitoring systems that regulate and quantify every action within the workplace.

In this regard, the series reflects a form of self-limitation insofar as the characters lack awareness of their lives outside of work and cannot escape the procedures and protocols imposed on them. This inability to question or escape imposed structures parallels Han’s view, in which individuals, constantly connected and controlled by the regime of digitalization, are subjected to internalized surveillance. Rather than resisting, neoliberal subjects become their jailers:

“The self-exploiting subject installs itself in a labor camp where it is both victim and executioner. As a subject that illuminates and monitors itself, it is isolated in a panopticon where it is simultaneously a prisoner and guard. The digital, networked subject is a panopticon in itself. Thus, surveillance is delegated to each individual.” (Han, 2014, p. 93)

This leads to a paradox: by submitting itself to control, the subject fully embraces the logic of unceasing production, becoming problematic because it naturalizes exploitation and surveillance as personal choices. Furthermore, the neoliberal subject exposes itself on social media, constantly comparing itself to others, resulting in an unstable and fragmented identity. Consequently, the South Korean-German philosopher warns: “The neoliberal regime boosts productivity by isolating individuals and throwing them into brutal competition” (Han, 2023, p. 67).

Thus, neoliberal workers become flexible and constantly ready to reinvent themselves according to the market’s demands. Far from being beneficial, this is profoundly harmful: the perpetual need to adapt and rebrand oneself produces a form of neuronal violence that leads to self-destruction. A new annihilation process is introduced since: “The subject forced to perform ends up killing itself through self-realization” (Han, 2022, p. 83).

Severance dramatizes Byung-Chul Han’s ideas on alienation, self-exploitation, and control in neoliberal society. While the series pushes to the extreme the separation between personal and work life—exposing how the worker’s identity is fragmented in the name of productivity and efficiency—it also reveals how the internalization of labor and voluntary self-exploitation reinforce this dynamic, blurring the boundaries between the personal and the professional to the point of dehumanization. Severance, therefore, raises crucial questions about the future of work, the impact of technology, and the danger of a society in which freedom becomes nothing more than an illusion.

References

Erickson, D. (Creador). (2022). Severance [Serie de televisión]. Apple TV+.

Han, B.-C. (2017). Psychopolitics: Neoliberalism and New Technologies of Power (E. Butler, Trad.). Verso Books.

Han, B.-C. (2017). The Agony of Eros (E. Butler, Trad.). The MIT Press.

Han, B.-C. (2015). The Burnout Society (E. Butler, Trad.). Stanford University Press.

Han, B.-C. (2023). Vita Contemplativa: In Praise of Inactivity (D. Steuer, Trad.). Polity Press.