What is Hedonism
What is Hedonism? Definition, Consumption and the Neoliberal Obligation to Enjoyment
What is Hedonism? Definition, Consumption and the Neoliberal Obligation to Enjoyment
DESCRIPTION: Hedonism explained: definition, ancient philosophy and psychoanalysis. How neoliberalism turns pleasure, consumer behaviour and purchasing behaviour into an obligation, and why sustainable hedonism, too, is subject to ideological critique.
What is hedonism? Definition, forms and the psychology of pleasure and consumption
Many people regard hedonism as a pursuit of pleasure and excessive consumption. The idea runs deeper than that: it asks what place pleasure has in life, and it permeates ancient philosophy as well as psychoanalysis.
What it’s all about:
· Definition, the main forms and
· contemporary consumer behaviour as an ideology.
Neoliberalism turns pleasure into an economic obligation. ‘Sustainable hedonism’ also falls into this category.
What does hedonism mean? Definition and origin
Hedonism derives from the Greek word hedone, meaning pleasure or delight. As a philosophical position, it asserts that joy and the absence of pain are the highest goods, and that the value of an action is measured by the pleasure it brings. In this simple form, the idea sounds almost self-evident, for hardly anyone consciously seeks suffering.
The term has its origins in ancient Greece. Even then, thinkers debated what kind of pleasure was meant, how long it lasts and whether it can be planned at all. This debate gave rise to the various forms of hedonism that continue to have an impact today, ranging from ethics and happiness research to the analysis of modern consumer behaviour.
The concept is of interest to psychology because the pursuit of pleasure is universal, yet rarely provides lasting satisfaction. It is precisely this gap between desire and its fulfilment that makes hedonism a subject of common interest to both philosophy and depth psychology.
What forms of hedonism exist?
The first major form is the hedonism of the Cyrenaics led by Aristippus. This school emphasised immediate, physical, sensual pleasure and intense enjoyment in the moment. Here, pleasure counted in its strongest and most immediate form, whilst the future took a back seat.
The second form is Epicureanism. Epicurus understood pleasure primarily as freedom from pain and as peace of mind, which he called ataraxia. He advocated moderation rather than excess because short-term excess creates long-term unrest. This distinction between short-term stimulation and long-term well-being shapes the entire debate and recurs in modern psychology.
Later, the ethical hedonism of utilitarianism was added to the mix. Bentham and Mill measured the good in terms of the greatest happiness for the greatest number of individuals and sought to reconcile private pleasure with social utility. Thus, a question of lifestyle became a question of morality: how much pleasure is a person allowed to take without harming the welfare of others?
Why is the pursuit of pleasure often disappointing?
Sigmund Freud described the original pleasure principle as the urge towards immediate gratification and the avoidance of displeasure. It prevails in children, in the unconscious and in dreams. This urge is countered by the later reality principle, which demands delay and ties gratification to the conditions of the world. The clash between these two forces gives rise to inner conflicts, feelings of guilt and the many roundabout ways in which desire manifests itself.
Freud also described the death drive, which he called Thanatos. It explains why people repeat seemingly pleasurable acts that harm them, for example, in addiction or when making risky decisions. The pursuit of pleasure thus contains an element of self-sabotage that thwarts the simple equation of ‘more pleasure equals more happiness’.
Jacques Lacan refined this idea with the concept of jouissance, an excessive form of pleasure that tips over into the unpleasant. Desire is directed towards a lack and finds no final repose in any object. The more fervently pleasure is pursued, the more clearly it becomes apparent that its goal is constantly receding.
What does hedonism have to do with our consumer behaviour?
Modern consumption translates the hedonistic impulse into products. Consumer research distinguishes between hedonistic purchases, which promise pleasure, sensual delight and experience, and utilitarian purchases, which meet a practical need. A large proportion of purchasing decisions are driven by hedonistic motives, and neoliberalism places this motive at the centre: consumption becomes a stage on which one demonstrates that one is living, enjoying life and keeping up with the Joneses.
This purchasing behaviour follows a familiar pattern. The appeal of the new is strong but short-lived; it then fades, and the consumer seeks out the next one. The Diderot effect describes how a single purchase triggers a whole chain of further purchases, because the new object makes the rest seem shabby. For an economy that requires constant growth, this insatiability is the real resource. A satisfied consumer would be an economic problem.
From a psychoanalytical perspective, the product takes the place of the missing object. The customer desires the promise attached to the object more than the object itself, and the market thrives on the fact that this promise is never fulfilled. Consumer mania and an obsession with status are thus part of the system’s normal functioning and describe the same structure as the philosophical discourse on the never-ending pursuit of pleasure.
How do marketing strategies exploit the hedonistic impulse?
Marketing strategies specifically appeal to the hedonistic motive. Advertising sells the experience, the status and the mood that a product promises, pushing its practical function into the background. Sensory stimuli, music, colours and images link the act of purchasing to a feeling of pleasure and turn consumption into a small reward in everyday life.
Behavioural economics and neuromarketing have refined this mechanism. Scarcity, discounts and personalised messaging create pressure that makes it difficult to delay a purchase and encourages an immediate buy. This illustrates how neoliberal domination works: it governs through desires themselves rather than through prohibitions. What Foucault termed ‘governmentality’ finds its everyday form in marketing, for the customer’s freedom is the lever it uses.
This insidiously shifts responsibility. The consumer experiences their purchasing decision as a free choice, whilst the stimuli in the background are designed to turn the pleasure principle against their own long-term satisfaction. If consumption fails to bring happiness, this appears to be a personal failure on the part of the customer, and the system that sets the stimulus remains invisible.
What is digital hedonism?
The digital space has accelerated the pursuit of pleasure. Social media, streaming and games provide a constant stream of small stimuli, each bringing brief enjoyment and immediately arousing the desire for the next one. The principle is similar to hedonistic consumption, only the pace is faster and the threshold lower.
In digital form, these stimuli often come at no visible cost, which makes repetition easier. Endless scrolling, notifications and auto-playing videos keep our attention trapped in a loop of stimulation and fleeting satisfaction. The feeling of fulfilment is short-lived; the emptiness that follows is sure to return.
This has consequences for our well-being. Those who fill their day with many short-term digital stimuli train themselves to expect immediate rewards and make it harder for themselves to experience the slow, long-term enjoyment that requires patience. Digital hedonism demonstrates in fast motion what Epicureanism already knew: an excess of brief stimuli erodes the tranquillity from which deeper joy arises.
Why doesn’t greater consumption make us happier?
Happiness research recognises the phenomenon of hedonic adaptation. People get used to a new level of possessions and enjoyment and, after a short time, return to their previous level of satisfaction. A higher income, a bigger car or yet another gadget only lifts one’s spirits temporarily; then the new becomes the norm.
This hedonistic treadmill explains why growing consumption does little to increase satisfaction. No sooner is one desire fulfilled than the next arises, and this endless pursuit prevents the lasting peace that is actually sought. For neoliberalism, the treadmill is a godsend, for a system that thrives on the next purchase needs people who never arrive. Aristotle himself warned that excessive indulgence leads away from true happiness, which he called eudaimonia and linked to a successful, meaningful life.
Byung-Chul Han has described this phenomenon in even sharper terms. The neoliberal ‘performance subject’ exploits themselves, believing they are fulfilling their potential, whilst regarding themselves as free. Dissatisfaction appears as a personal shortcoming and drives them towards the next endeavour, the next purchase, the next optimisation. Those who realise that the allure of novelty fades can channel their energy into what sustains them in the long term, thereby undermining the compulsion towards ever-new consumption.
Is sustainable hedonism the solution or a new trap?
promises to reconcile the joy of indulgence with the careful use of resources: quality over quantity, less waste, long-term enjoyment rather than short-term purchasing impulses. As a way of life, this is sensible and aligns with Epicurus’s recommendation of moderation. As a market offering, however, it has a hidden agenda.
Neoliberalism has learned to sell even the criticism levelled against it. Green, conscious, sustainable consumption becomes a commodity in its own right, complete with a price premium, status benefits and a clear conscience in the shopping basket. The narrative of the personal ecological footprint, in its well-known form, circulated by an oil company, shifts the responsibility for a structural problem onto individual purchasing behaviour. The consumer is meant to feel guilty and carry on buying, whilst the conditions of production remain untouched.
Genuine sustainability would have to tackle the compulsion for growth itself and raise the question of ‘enough’ at a political level. ‘Conscious enjoyment’ is merely a form of indulgence. It only becomes a critique when it recognises moderation as a limit that calls into question an entire economy based on the pursuit of ever more. As a matter of private consumer ethics, it remains without consequence.
How does neoliberalism turn enjoyment into a duty?
Neoliberalism does not forbid pleasure; it commands it. Whereas an older, bourgeois order demanded thrift and the suppression of instincts, today’s imperative is: enjoy yourself, fulfil your potential, get the best out of life for yourself. The superego, which used to impose prohibitions, now commands pleasure, and it is precisely this compulsion to seek pleasure that generates guilt, exhaustion and the feeling of never having enjoyed oneself enough.
Thus, hedonism and economics merge. The individual becomes an entrepreneurial self who manages their body, their time and their pleasure as if they were capital, and must constantly optimise them. Leisure, sexuality, diet and rest come under the same pressure to yield returns as work. Self-optimisation markets this pressure as freedom, and the social comparison fuelled by every platform transforms private pleasure into an ongoing competition.
This system shifts the risk onto the individual. Anyone who fails, becomes exhausted or falls into excessive debt is deemed to be to blame, whilst the circumstances that impose this pressure remain unmentioned. The word ‘resilience’ marks this shift: it demands that the individual possess the resilience to endure the impositions of a boundless economy, the causes of which it never addresses. Psychoanalytic discourse on lack and the critique of neoliberalism describe the same phenomenon from two angles: a desire that the system awakens and, as a matter of principle, never satisfies.
Is it possible to practise hedonism consciously and over the long term?
A conscious approach to pleasure begins with understanding one’s own desires. Those who recognise which stimulus drives them to make a purchase or to click next gain a sense of detachment, from which a genuine choice becomes possible. The crucial question is: which pleasure is sustaining, and which merely masks the emptiness for a short while?
The ancient advice on moderation remains useful in this regard. Epicurus distinguished between necessary, natural and empty desires, and advised recognising the empty ones and letting them go. Applied to everyday life, this means cultivating slow, shared enjoyment that deepens as fleeting thrills wear off.
A mature form of hedonism ultimately accepts that complete fulfilment remains an illusion, and finds freedom precisely in this realisation. When neither a purchase nor a thrill can definitively fill the void, the chase loses its compulsion, and pleasure can once again become light-hearted. Pleasure remains a good and ceases to be an unfulfilled promise.
The key points in brief
• Hedonism refers to the view that pleasure and freedom from pain are the highest goods; the term originates from ancient Greece.
• The main forms are the physically oriented hedonism of the Cyrenaics, the moderate Epicureanism and the ethical hedonism of utilitarianism.
• Freud, Lacan and Nietzsche demonstrate why the pure pursuit of pleasure often leads to disappointment: the reality principle, the death drive, jouissance and the structural lack of desire.
• In consumer behaviour, the hedonistic impulse operates through short-term stimuli; the Diderot effect and marketing strategies keep the buying process going.
• Neoliberalism turns pleasure into a duty: the superego commands ‘Enjoy!’, and the individual becomes an entrepreneurial self that optimises their pleasure as if it were capital.
• The hedonistic treadmill is no flaw in a system that thrives on the next purchase; Byung-Chul Han describes the ‘performance subject’ who exploits themselves and considers themselves free.
• Marketing and neuromarketing rule over desires themselves (Foucault); resilience and self-optimisation shift the risk onto the individual.
• Sustainable hedonism has a double meaning: as a consumer ethic, it individualises a structural problem; as a political boundary, it challenges the compulsion for growth.
Sources
• Epicurus, Letter to Menoikeus (On Happiness): https://www.projekt-gutenberg.org/epikur/brief/brief.html
• Sigmund Freud, Civilisation and Its Discontents (Project Gutenberg): https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/62741
• Byung-Chul Han, The Society of Fatigue / Psychopolitics (publisher’s website): https://www.matthes-seitz-berlin.de/buch/muedigkeitsgesellschaft.html
• Michel Foucault, The Birth of Biopolitics (Governmentality, Suhrkamp): https://www.suhrkamp.de/buch/michel-foucault-die-geburt-der-biopolitik-t-9783518293676
• Ulrich Bröckling, The Entrepreneurial Self (Suhrkamp): https://www.suhrkamp.de/buch/ulrich-broeckling-das-unternehmerische-selbst-t-9783518294321
• The Diderot Effect and Impulsive Buying (PMC): https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12561318/
• Hedonism – entry in the Encyclopaedia of Psychology (Spektrum): https://www.spektrum.de/lexikon/psychologie/hedonismus/6413
• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Hedonism: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/hedonism/
Related
DESCRIPTION: Hedonism explained: definition, ancient philosophy and psychoanalysis. How neoliberalism turns pleasure, consumer behaviour and purchasing behaviour into an obligation, and why sustainable hedonism, too, is subject to ideological critique.
What is hedonism? Definition, forms and the psychology of pleasure and consumption
Many people regard hedonism as a pursuit of pleasure and excessive consumption. The idea runs deeper than that: it asks what place pleasure has in life, and it permeates ancient philosophy as well as psychoanalysis.
What it’s all about:
· Definition, the main forms and
· contemporary consumer behaviour as an ideology.
Neoliberalism turns pleasure into an economic obligation. ‘Sustainable hedonism’ also falls into this category.
What does hedonism mean? Definition and origin
Hedonism derives from the Greek word hedone, meaning pleasure or delight. As a philosophical position, it asserts that joy and the absence of pain are the highest goods, and that the value of an action is measured by the pleasure it brings. In this simple form, the idea sounds almost self-evident, for hardly anyone consciously seeks suffering.
The term has its origins in ancient Greece. Even then, thinkers debated what kind of pleasure was meant, how long it lasts and whether it can be planned at all. This debate gave rise to the various forms of hedonism that continue to have an impact today, ranging from ethics and happiness research to the analysis of modern consumer behaviour.
The concept is of interest to psychology because the pursuit of pleasure is universal, yet rarely provides lasting satisfaction. It is precisely this gap between desire and its fulfilment that makes hedonism a subject of common interest to both philosophy and depth psychology.
What forms of hedonism exist?
The first major form is the hedonism of the Cyrenaics led by Aristippus. This school emphasised immediate, physical, sensual pleasure and intense enjoyment in the moment. Here, pleasure counted in its strongest and most immediate form, whilst the future took a back seat.
The second form is Epicureanism. Epicurus understood pleasure primarily as freedom from pain and as peace of mind, which he called ataraxia. He advocated moderation rather than excess because short-term excess creates long-term unrest. This distinction between short-term stimulation and long-term well-being shapes the entire debate and recurs in modern psychology.
Later, the ethical hedonism of utilitarianism was added to the mix. Bentham and Mill measured the good in terms of the greatest happiness for the greatest number of individuals and sought to reconcile private pleasure with social utility. Thus, a question of lifestyle became a question of morality: how much pleasure is a person allowed to take without harming the welfare of others?
Why is the pursuit of pleasure often disappointing?
Sigmund Freud described the original pleasure principle as the urge towards immediate gratification and the avoidance of displeasure. It prevails in children, in the unconscious and in dreams. This urge is countered by the later reality principle, which demands delay and ties gratification to the conditions of the world. The clash between these two forces gives rise to inner conflicts, feelings of guilt and the many roundabout ways in which desire manifests itself.
Freud also described the death drive, which he called Thanatos. It explains why people repeat seemingly pleasurable acts that harm them, for example, in addiction or when making risky decisions. The pursuit of pleasure thus contains an element of self-sabotage that thwarts the simple equation of ‘more pleasure equals more happiness’.
Jacques Lacan refined this idea with the concept of jouissance, an excessive form of pleasure that tips over into the unpleasant. Desire is directed towards a lack and finds no final repose in any object. The more fervently pleasure is pursued, the more clearly it becomes apparent that its goal is constantly receding.
What does hedonism have to do with our consumer behaviour?
Modern consumption translates the hedonistic impulse into products. Consumer research distinguishes between hedonistic purchases, which promise pleasure, sensual delight and experience, and utilitarian purchases, which meet a practical need. A large proportion of purchasing decisions are driven by hedonistic motives, and neoliberalism places this motive at the centre: consumption becomes a stage on which one demonstrates that one is living, enjoying life and keeping up with the Joneses.
This purchasing behaviour follows a familiar pattern. The appeal of the new is strong but short-lived; it then fades, and the consumer seeks out the next one. The Diderot effect describes how a single purchase triggers a whole chain of further purchases, because the new object makes the rest seem shabby. For an economy that requires constant growth, this insatiability is the real resource. A satisfied consumer would be an economic problem.
From a psychoanalytical perspective, the product takes the place of the missing object. The customer desires the promise attached to the object more than the object itself, and the market thrives on the fact that this promise is never fulfilled. Consumer mania and an obsession with status are thus part of the system’s normal functioning and describe the same structure as the philosophical discourse on the never-ending pursuit of pleasure.
How do marketing strategies exploit the hedonistic impulse?
Marketing strategies specifically appeal to the hedonistic motive. Advertising sells the experience, the status and the mood that a product promises, pushing its practical function into the background. Sensory stimuli, music, colours and images link the act of purchasing to a feeling of pleasure and turn consumption into a small reward in everyday life.
Behavioural economics and neuromarketing have refined this mechanism. Scarcity, discounts and personalised messaging create pressure that makes it difficult to delay a purchase and encourages an immediate buy. This illustrates how neoliberal domination works: it governs through desires themselves rather than through prohibitions. What Foucault termed ‘governmentality’ finds its everyday form in marketing, for the customer’s freedom is the lever it uses.
This insidiously shifts responsibility. The consumer experiences their purchasing decision as a free choice, whilst the stimuli in the background are designed to turn the pleasure principle against their own long-term satisfaction. If consumption fails to bring happiness, this appears to be a personal failure on the part of the customer, and the system that sets the stimulus remains invisible.
What is digital hedonism?
The digital space has accelerated the pursuit of pleasure. Social media, streaming and games provide a constant stream of small stimuli, each bringing brief enjoyment and immediately arousing the desire for the next one. The principle is similar to hedonistic consumption, only the pace is faster and the threshold lower.
In digital form, these stimuli often come at no visible cost, which makes repetition easier. Endless scrolling, notifications and auto-playing videos keep our attention trapped in a loop of stimulation and fleeting satisfaction. The feeling of fulfilment is short-lived; the emptiness that follows is sure to return.
This has consequences for our well-being. Those who fill their day with many short-term digital stimuli train themselves to expect immediate rewards and make it harder for themselves to experience the slow, long-term enjoyment that requires patience. Digital hedonism demonstrates in fast motion what Epicureanism already knew: an excess of brief stimuli erodes the tranquillity from which deeper joy arises.
Why doesn’t greater consumption make us happier?
Happiness research recognises the phenomenon of hedonic adaptation. People get used to a new level of possessions and enjoyment and, after a short time, return to their previous level of satisfaction. A higher income, a bigger car or yet another gadget only lifts one’s spirits temporarily; then the new becomes the norm.
This hedonistic treadmill explains why growing consumption does little to increase satisfaction. No sooner is one desire fulfilled than the next arises, and this endless pursuit prevents the lasting peace that is actually sought. For neoliberalism, the treadmill is a godsend, for a system that thrives on the next purchase needs people who never arrive. Aristotle himself warned that excessive indulgence leads away from true happiness, which he called eudaimonia and linked to a successful, meaningful life.
Byung-Chul Han has described this phenomenon in even sharper terms. The neoliberal ‘performance subject’ exploits themselves, believing they are fulfilling their potential, whilst regarding themselves as free. Dissatisfaction appears as a personal shortcoming and drives them towards the next endeavour, the next purchase, the next optimisation. Those who realise that the allure of novelty fades can channel their energy into what sustains them in the long term, thereby undermining the compulsion towards ever-new consumption.
Is sustainable hedonism the solution or a new trap?
promises to reconcile the joy of indulgence with the careful use of resources: quality over quantity, less waste, long-term enjoyment rather than short-term purchasing impulses. As a way of life, this is sensible and aligns with Epicurus’s recommendation of moderation. As a market offering, however, it has a hidden agenda.
Neoliberalism has learned to sell even the criticism levelled against it. Green, conscious, sustainable consumption becomes a commodity in its own right, complete with a price premium, status benefits and a clear conscience in the shopping basket. The narrative of the personal ecological footprint, in its well-known form, circulated by an oil company, shifts the responsibility for a structural problem onto individual purchasing behaviour. The consumer is meant to feel guilty and carry on buying, whilst the conditions of production remain untouched.
Genuine sustainability would have to tackle the compulsion for growth itself and raise the question of ‘enough’ at a political level. ‘Conscious enjoyment’ is merely a form of indulgence. It only becomes a critique when it recognises moderation as a limit that calls into question an entire economy based on the pursuit of ever more. As a matter of private consumer ethics, it remains without consequence.
How does neoliberalism turn enjoyment into a duty?
Neoliberalism does not forbid pleasure; it commands it. Whereas an older, bourgeois order demanded thrift and the suppression of instincts, today’s imperative is: enjoy yourself, fulfil your potential, get the best out of life for yourself. The superego, which used to impose prohibitions, now commands pleasure, and it is precisely this compulsion to seek pleasure that generates guilt, exhaustion and the feeling of never having enjoyed oneself enough.
Thus, hedonism and economics merge. The individual becomes an entrepreneurial self who manages their body, their time and their pleasure as if they were capital, and must constantly optimise them. Leisure, sexuality, diet and rest come under the same pressure to yield returns as work. Self-optimisation markets this pressure as freedom, and the social comparison fuelled by every platform transforms private pleasure into an ongoing competition.
This system shifts the risk onto the individual. Anyone who fails, becomes exhausted or falls into excessive debt is deemed to be to blame, whilst the circumstances that impose this pressure remain unmentioned. The word ‘resilience’ marks this shift: it demands that the individual possess the resilience to endure the impositions of a boundless economy, the causes of which it never addresses. Psychoanalytic discourse on lack and the critique of neoliberalism describe the same phenomenon from two angles: a desire that the system awakens and, as a matter of principle, never satisfies.
Is it possible to practise hedonism consciously and over the long term?
A conscious approach to pleasure begins with understanding one’s own desires. Those who recognise which stimulus drives them to make a purchase or to click next gain a sense of detachment, from which a genuine choice becomes possible. The crucial question is: which pleasure is sustaining, and which merely masks the emptiness for a short while?
The ancient advice on moderation remains useful in this regard. Epicurus distinguished between necessary, natural and empty desires, and advised recognising the empty ones and letting them go. Applied to everyday life, this means cultivating slow, shared enjoyment that deepens as fleeting thrills wear off.
A mature form of hedonism ultimately accepts that complete fulfilment remains an illusion, and finds freedom precisely in this realisation. When neither a purchase nor a thrill can definitively fill the void, the chase loses its compulsion, and pleasure can once again become light-hearted. Pleasure remains a good and ceases to be an unfulfilled promise.
The key points in brief
• Hedonism refers to the view that pleasure and freedom from pain are the highest goods; the term originates from ancient Greece.
• The main forms are the physically oriented hedonism of the Cyrenaics, the moderate Epicureanism and the ethical hedonism of utilitarianism.
• Freud, Lacan and Nietzsche demonstrate why the pure pursuit of pleasure often leads to disappointment: the reality principle, the death drive, jouissance and the structural lack of desire.
• In consumer behaviour, the hedonistic impulse operates through short-term stimuli; the Diderot effect and marketing strategies keep the buying process going.
• Neoliberalism turns pleasure into a duty: the superego commands ‘Enjoy!’, and the individual becomes an entrepreneurial self that optimises their pleasure as if it were capital.
• The hedonistic treadmill is no flaw in a system that thrives on the next purchase; Byung-Chul Han describes the ‘performance subject’ who exploits themselves and considers themselves free.
• Marketing and neuromarketing rule over desires themselves (Foucault); resilience and self-optimisation shift the risk onto the individual.
• Sustainable hedonism has a double meaning: as a consumer ethic, it individualises a structural problem; as a political boundary, it challenges the compulsion for growth.
Sources
• Epicurus, Letter to Menoikeus (On Happiness): https://www.projekt-gutenberg.org/epikur/brief/brief.html
• Sigmund Freud, Civilisation and Its Discontents (Project Gutenberg): https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/62741
• Byung-Chul Han, The Society of Fatigue / Psychopolitics (publisher’s website): https://www.matthes-seitz-berlin.de/buch/muedigkeitsgesellschaft.html
• Michel Foucault, The Birth of Biopolitics (Governmentality, Suhrkamp): https://www.suhrkamp.de/buch/michel-foucault-die-geburt-der-biopolitik-t-9783518293676
• Ulrich Bröckling, The Entrepreneurial Self (Suhrkamp): https://www.suhrkamp.de/buch/ulrich-broeckling-das-unternehmerische-selbst-t-9783518294321
• The Diderot Effect and Impulsive Buying (PMC): https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12561318/
• Hedonism – entry in the Encyclopaedia of Psychology (Spektrum): https://www.spektrum.de/lexikon/psychologie/hedonismus/6413
• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Hedonism: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/hedonism/
Related