We are all probably familiar with this term, but I still have no idea what does it really mean. I’ve read two books by the author Franz Kafka, the guy who was the origin of this very term. I tried looking online, searching for definitions and stuff, but I still have no idea what was that all about, nobody explained it clearly. I wanted to find a simple definiton with an example, but I found pile of text. Maybe they need all that “extra” stuff to explain it because it is not very simple, I guess. Can it be explained in a few words, if so please do it and if not, I will go through the long version, too. Thank you.
Edit: Thank you, I went through your comments, they were really helpful.
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Generally speaking it’s the idea of faceless, unaccountable bureaucracy with convoluted, inscrutable rules creating a sense of anxiety, paranoia, and helplessness in those having to navigate “the system” for whatever reason, or the overall atmosphere in such a situation.
It’s intrinsically tied to notions of the dehumanising effect of ever more complex societies and power structures, and the potential for those in power to intentionally create a demoralising sense of inertia in order to solidify their own positions of power; to jam up any avenues for change, essentially. And also the psychological tendency for people to simply follow orders as a very small cog in an intentionally overcomplex system, not knowing or caring about the harm potentially being inflicted by the machine they’re a part of, which also relates to the concept of the “banality of evil”.
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