Biao Xiang on Lonely Deaths, Involution, and the Disappearance of the Nearby

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Lauren Oyler talks with anthropologist Biao Xiang, director of the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology. His concepts of “suspension,” “involution,” and “the disappearance of the nearby” have gone mainstream with a whole generation of young people in China.

Lauren and Biao Xiang discuss how loneliness, a condition once considered a luxury problem for artists or philosophers, has now become widespread, reaching even those who are surrounded by others, like young people and members of the working class.

They also discuss the role of AI and neo-liberalism in loneliness, the loss of pride in the working class and why gossip is important to the social fabric. They close with Hannah Arendt’s distinction between loneliness and solitude and a conversation on lonely deaths in Germany and Japan.

Read “Dying Alone,” the essay on lonely deaths at https://blnreview.de/en/ausgaben/2026-05/dying-alone-lonely-deaths-germany-japan

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Airlift is produced in the Studio of Jacobin Germany. Hosted by Lauren Oyler and Tobias Haberkorn.