FOUCAULT, FITNESS, AND THE FABRICATION OF THE SELF (EXPOSING POLITICAL ANATOMY OF THE NEOLIBERAL BODY)

Abstract

The research uses Michel Foucault (1926–1984)’s genealogy to study modern fitness culture by analyzing how power functions through body discipline and self-regulation and surveillance in contemporary health and exercise practices. The research uses Foucault's concepts of docile bodies and panopticism and political anatomy and biopower to analyze how gyms and fitness technologies and wellness ideologies create micro-institutions that generate subjects who are compliant to globalist culture. The research examines from how physical fitness spaces (gyms, studios) and digital platforms (apps, trackers, social media) operate as disciplinary institutions which transform people through repetitive practices while being monitored and quantified. The research examines fitness discourse together with wearable technology and the quantified self-movement to demonstrate if modern health culture really shifted from external control to self-imposed discipline which makes individuals both subjects and objects of power. The research demonstrates how the modern fit subject exists under continuous optimization and surveillance and moral judgment while being responsible for their own well-being. The research investigates the political aspects of fitness as a form of embodied citizenship through self-transformation practices and monitoring systems in a neoliberal capitalist society.