Certainly, and the book doesn't claim otherwise. There are differences in the origins of the drive to succeed, however, and these are still worth examining. I

Certainly, and the book doesn't claim otherwise. There are differences in the origins of the drive to succeed, however, and these are still worth examining. In modern Western society, the pressure to succeed is largely internalised. People are encouraged to be their "best selves", to strive for endless self-improvement. This pressure doesn't come from familial or societal obligations, but an obligation to oneself. I'll just quote the book: "The achievement-subject stands free from external instances of domination forcing it to work and exploiting it. It is subject to no one if not to itself. However, the absence of external domination does not abolish the structure of compulsion. It makes freedom and compulsion coincide. The achievement-subject gives itself over to freestanding compulsion in order to maximize performance. In this way, it exploits itself. Auto-exploitation is more efficient than allo-exploitation because a deceptive feeling of freedom accompanies it. The exploiter is simultaneously the exploited. Exploitation now occurs without domination. That is what makes self-exploitation so efficient."