The Regime of Self‐Optimization: Lived Experiences of Enforced Digital Inclusion by Low‐Literate Citizens

This article introduces the regime of self‐optimization, a theoretical framework to understand how disadvantaged citizens are compelled to continually improve their digital skills and capacities to meet the demands of an increasingly digital welfare state. Consequently, we ask: How do low‐literate Dutch citizens experience the regime of self‐optimization in their everyday lives? Drawing on historical and discursive underpinnings of governmentality, responsibilization, and standardization, we propose a conceptual framework to examine how top‐down digital norms impose moral and practical obligations for self‐optimization. We distinguish two dimensions of self‐optimization: a vertical and horizontal mode. The first emphasizes extrinsic norms, efficiency, and personal responsibility, effectively attributing digital exclusion to personal failure while overlooking more profound structural barriers. The latter centers around intrinsic motivations, social support structures, trust, and context‐sensitive adaptation, thereby fostering inclusion and agency, although its effectiveness depends on social resources. Drawing on a longitudinal ethnographic study conducted in libraries, a community center, and a vocational school in the Netherlands (41 participant observations; 23 semi‐structured interviews), our findings show how these competing dimensions collide in the everyday lives of low‐literate Dutch citizens, revealing frictions that highlight broader socio‐political tensions in digitized welfare systems. These tensions highlight how the mechanisms intended to foster digital inclusion, by encouraging citizens to optimize themselves, can instead reinforce marginalization. By centering the experiences of marginalized groups, researchers and policymakers can more effectively address socio‐economic, linguistic, and cultural barriers to digital inclusion. This challenges the assumption that universalized digital inclusion initiatives are sufficient for all citizens. The regime of self‐optimization, thus, provides insights for designing human‐centered, context‐sensitive digital inclusion interventions in rapidly digitizing societies.