Between Critique and Determinism: Democracy, Power, and Digitalisation in Byung-Chul Han’s Book “Infocracy: Digitization and the Crisis of Democracy”

Abstract

This book review critically examines Byung-Chul Han’s “Infocracy: Digitization and the Crisis of Democracy” (2022), focusing on his analysis of digital capitalism and neoliberal power. Han conceptualises contemporary society as an information regime in which data extraction, algorithmic governance and psychopolitical surveillance replace industrial forms of exploitation, fostering self-exploitation under the guise of freedom. The review highlights the book’s strengths in articulating the links between neoliberal subjectivity, platform economies and democratic decline. At the same time, it addresses key limitations, including the absence of a clearly defined democratic model, a deterministic view of digital subjects and the lack of empirical evidence, while situating Han’s arguments within broader debates in critical political economy and media theory.