Homo Mensor: self – quantification as an act of habitual resistance against neoliberal numbers

Jesudoss, S. P. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1286-0011 (2023) Homo Mensor: self – quantification as an act of habitual resistance against neoliberal numbers. PhD thesis, University of Reading. doi: 10.48683/1926.00119029

Abstract/Summary

Researchers and the mainstream media enquiry of self-quantification have either painted a techno-utopian society with self-governing users or an Orwellian world of surveillance governed by corporations and governments. On the other hand, more and more people (20% year-on-year increase in the market) are embracing self-quantification practices and technology, and they have started living their life in a quantified world where every aspect of their life is measured with or without technology. Some sociologists like Deborah Lupton posit that self-quantification is yet another neoliberal project that already imposes many numbers (including credit scores, grades, and social ratings) to govern the subjects. Informed by postphenomenology and based on 33 in-depth interviews of UK-based self-quantifying users and the exploration of devices, apps and secondary literature on the technology, the thesis studies everyday self-quantification practices. Through a conceptual framework drawing from affordance theory and De Certeau's tactics of the weak, the thesis first unpacks the affordances offered by the self-quantification environment to the user and then identifies how the users actualise these affordances. Next, the thesis explains how users gain agency and control through the numbers produced by self-quantification and affordances. The control gained through numbers creates multiple micro resistances that are tacit, pre-reflective, situational, and embodied. The study theorises that self-quantification and the numbers produced through those practices are an act of habitual resistance against the neoliberal hegemony. The study presents an alternative narrative to the techno-deterministic viewpoint of the existing literature but agrees with the imposed surveillance theorisation of the sociological paradigm. However, it challenges that narrative and theorises how the users respond to the authorities' neoliberal and surveillance impositions. The study's theoretical, societal, and marketing implications are manifold, including the stance that self-quantification is not a singular practice but integrated and the noticeable resistance turn from the existing self-knowledge narrative. The thesis is subject to several limitations, including data generation complexities, and the study was conducted in a specific context of self-quantification. Finally, future research avenues are discussed and addressed in detail based on the implications of the findings.

Item Type	Thesis (PhD)
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/119029
Identification Number/DOI	10.48683/1926.00119029
Divisions	Henley Business School > Marketing and Reputation
Date on Title Page	October 2022
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