IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsoctx/v4y2014i3p446-462d39729.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Exercise as Labour: Quantified Self and the Transformation of Exercise into Labour

Author

Listed:
  • Chris Till

    (School of Social, Psychological and Communication Sciences, Leeds Metropolitan University, Room 914, Calverley Building, Portland Way, Leeds, LS1 3HE, UK)

Abstract

The recent increase in the use of digital self-tracking devices has given rise to a range of relations to the self often discussed as quantified self (QS). In popular and academic discourse, this development has been discussed variously as a form of narcissistic self-involvement, an advanced expression of panoptical self-surveillance and a potential new dawn for e-health. This article proposes a previously un-theorised consequence of this large-scale observation and analysis of human behaviour; that exercise activity is in the process of being reconfigured as labour. QS will be briefly introduced, and reflected on, subsequently considering some of its key aspects in relation to how these have so far been interpreted and analysed in academic literature. Secondly, the analysis of scholars of “digital labour” and “immaterial labour” will be considered, which will be discussed in relation to what its analysis of the transformations of work in contemporary advanced capitalism can offer to an interpretation of the promotion and management of the self-tracking of exercise activities. Building on this analysis, it will be proposed that a thermodynamic model of the exploitation of potential energy underlies the interest that corporations have shown in self-tracking and that “gamification” and the promotion of an entrepreneurial selfhood is the ideological frame that informs the strategy through which labour value is extracted without payment. Finally, the potential theoretical and political consequences of these insights will be considered.

Suggested Citation

  • Chris Till, 2014. "Exercise as Labour: Quantified Self and the Transformation of Exercise into Labour," Societies, MDPI, vol. 4(3), pages 1-17, August.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsoctx:v:4:y:2014:i:3:p:446-462:d:39729
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/4/3/446/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/4/3/446/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Minna Ruckenstein, 2014. "Visualized and Interacted Life: Personal Analytics and Engagements with Data Doubles," Societies, MDPI, vol. 4(1), pages 1-17, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Deborah Lupton, 2014. "Apps as Artefacts: Towards a Critical Perspective on Mobile Health and Medical Apps," Societies, MDPI, vol. 4(4), pages 1-17, October.
    2. Petrakaki, Dimitra & Hilberg, Eva & Waring, Justin, 2018. "Between empowerment and self-discipline: Governing patients' conduct through technological self-care," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 213(C), pages 146-153.
    3. Fiske, Amelia & Buyx, Alena & Prainsack, Barbara, 2020. "The double-edged sword of digital self-care: Physician perspectives from Northern Germany," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 260(C).
    4. Marent, Benjamin & Henwood, Flis & Darking, Mary, 2018. "Ambivalence in digital health: Co-designing an mHealth platform for HIV care," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 215(C), pages 133-141.
    5. Evgeniya G. Nim, 2019. "Digital Self-Tracking Among Russian Students: Practices And Discourses," HSE Working papers WP BRP 91/SOC/2019, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    6. Thomas Calvard, 2019. "Integrating Social Scientific Perspectives on the Quantified Employee Self," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 8(9), pages 1-19, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Adonteng-Kissi, Obed, 2018. "Causes of child labour: Perceptions of rural and urban parents in Ghana," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 55-65.
    2. Enric Senabre Hidalgo & Mad P. Ball & Morgane Opoix & Bastian Greshake Tzovaras, 2022. "Shared motivations, goals and values in the practice of personal science: a community perspective on self-tracking for empirical knowledge," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-12, December.
    3. Nikayin, Fatemeh & Heikkilä, Marikka & de Reuver, Mark & Solaimani, Sam, 2014. "Workplace primary prevention programmes enabled by information and communication technology," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 326-332.
    4. Baki Cakici & Pedro Sanches, 2014. "Detecting the Visible: The Discursive Construction of Health Threats in a Syndromic Surveillance System Design," Societies, MDPI, vol. 4(3), pages 1-15, July.
    5. Evgeniya G. Nim, 2019. "Digital Self-Tracking Among Russian Students: Practices And Discourses," HSE Working papers WP BRP 91/SOC/2019, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    6. Rich, Emma & Lupton, Deborah, 2022. "Rethinking digital biopedagogies: How sociomaterial relations shape English secondary students' digital health practices," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 311(C).
    7. Deborah Lupton, 2014. "Apps as Artefacts: Towards a Critical Perspective on Mobile Health and Medical Apps," Societies, MDPI, vol. 4(4), pages 1-17, October.
    8. Lane Peterson Fronczek & Martin Mende & Maura L. Scott, 2022. "From self‐quantification to self‐objectification? Framework and research agenda on consequences for well‐being," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(3), pages 1356-1374, September.
    9. Margaret Machniak Sommervold & Maja Van der Velden, 2017. "Visions of Illness, Disease, and Sickness in Mobile Health Applications," Societies, MDPI, vol. 7(4), pages 1-18, October.
    10. Petrakaki, Dimitra & Hilberg, Eva & Waring, Justin, 2018. "Between empowerment and self-discipline: Governing patients' conduct through technological self-care," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 213(C), pages 146-153.
    11. Michael Mutz & Johannes Müller & Anne K. Reimers, 2021. "Use of Digital Media for Home-Based Sports Activities during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Results from the German SPOVID Survey," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(9), pages 1-12, April.
    12. Adonteng-Kissi, Obed & Adonteng-Kissi, Barbara & Kamal Jibril, Mohammed & Osei, Samuel Kwesi, 2019. "Communal Conflict Versus Education: Experiences of Stakeholders in Ghana’s Bawku Conflict," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 68-79.
    13. Emma Rich & Andy Miah, 2014. "Understanding Digital Health as Public Pedagogy: A Critical Framework," Societies, MDPI, vol. 4(2), pages 1-20, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsoctx:v:4:y:2014:i:3:p:446-462:d:39729. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.