Abstract

Both Belgian and European governments as well as private companies as Google, Apple and Samsung foster high expectations towards the recent developments in wearables devices and application technologies. Due to their expected contribution to cost-reductions, the optimisation of health outcomes and the empowerment of patients, wearables are put forward as the ultimate solution to our western contemporary healthcare crisis. However, against this techno-optimism, a growing number of critical social science analyses has denoted important societal concerns with these devices. Drawing on Michel Foucault’s early work on biopower, these sociological critiques warn for possible constraints on the autonomy of subjects, complications concerning privacy, and social inequalities that could result from wearable technologies in society. To move beyond these hypes and fears, the article proposes the mobilization of Foucault’s later notion of ‘governmentality’ as a new and productive angle for sociological research on wearables innovations. The concept of governmentality offers three important elements for investigating the complexity of wearable devices in society. Firstly, governmentality makes it possible to carry out empirical research both on studying practices of wearable innovations as well as mapping the complex network of actors in which they are embedded. Secondly, it enables one to study the social aspects of the development of wearables itself. Thirdly, this approach makes it possible to understand the societal impact of these digital health technologies in respect to three shifting societal fault lines: which influence do wearables have on the delineation between private and public spheres? Who can be called the expert today? When are wearables considered medical devices and when do they contribute to the ‘lifestylisation’ of health? In a world of wearables and algorithms, what do we consider as normal or disease?

How to Cite:

Lievevrouw, E. & Van Hoyweghen, I., (2017) “Het goede leven op het spoor: bestuurlijkheid als een alternatieve benadering in het onderzoek naar wearable-technologieën”, Sociologos 38(4), 364–383. doi: https://doi.org/10.21825/sociologos.86957