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Performative Discipline: Conformity at its finest

Good day, my love bugs.

My content this year is to do more research into the wellness space and debunk some things that are being presented as the truth or the only way for us to embark on our wellness journey. I see a lot of wellness content on my algorithm I also follow wellness focused content creators. One thing I have noticed especially when it comes to advice on finances is this strict ‘not spending’ financial routine that will save everyone money. However, there are people who are picking themselves up from the bootstrap, paying off student debt and companies not paying people well in general. I hope the intention behind the financial advice is good and maybe that is how these creators get by but this is just one example. I want to speak about wellness routines.

Performative discipline especially on social media in the context of the wellness industry, is a growing phenomenon. It refers to how people showcase their self-control, routines and commitment to health or productivity not just as personal practices but as curated performances for public consumption. This can include the daily 5 AM morning routine, clean eating and fitness meal preps, hustle culture posts, digital detoxes and minimalism challenges. There is no way we all have the same routine, have the same hobbies and are eating the same food! This performance is often aestheticized and idealised, blurring the line between genuine well-being and branding self-discipline as virtue or worth. I am more critical of this leading to self-punishment.

Michael Foucault a philosopher and political theorist often focused on disciplinary power which describes how modern societies control people not by force but by encouraging them to regulate themselves known as internalizing discipline. Think of when you are doing something and someone is watching you. Your behaviour is different when you are doing something alone versus when you know someone is watching you. Social media platforms extend this disciplinary power. How? Well, people document their productivity, fitness and wellness to show they are “good subjects” organised, controlled, worthy. The act of sharing becomes a performance of self-surveilliance.

In The Aftermath of Feminism Angela McRobbie argues that popular culture encourages women to embrace empowerment through consumption, self-discipline and personal responsibility but in ways that are apolitical and individualized. For example, wellness has become a personal makeover project not a collective response to structural issues like stress, inequality or misogyny. Feminism is then repackaged as lifestyle rather than a collective action or critique, feminism is often reduced to ‘girlboss’ rhetoric or Instagram affirmations, promoting hustle and healing as aesthetic and moral duties.

There is a new ideal woman and she identifies as confident, entrepreneurial, self-managing, stylish and productive. This woman is always working on herself in body, mind and brand and is seen as empowered but in a way that serves capitalism. Again there is nothing wrong with women working on themselves but we have to evaluate whether we doing this for us or for an idealized version of us that we will never attain. Both Focuault and McRobie highlight how self-surveillance and disciplinary norms are embedded in modern life and by extension in curated wellness routines online.

The consequences of perfornative discipline are that it is burnout masked as achievement. It also creates a comparison culture and shame for those who cannot meet these standards. The engagement we have with wellness then becomes superficial focusing on aesthetics and optics over genuine health or rest. This does nothing for mental health. Life is already tough as it is. This affects women more due to societal expectations of women to be “put together”, emotionally available and always improving. Wellness isn’t about punishment or proving worth. We all need to define wellness on our own terms.

In closing, discipline should be gentle, not brutal. Self-care should feel like coming home, not like performance anxiety in disguise.

Citations

Stein, M. (2016).Michel Foucault, Panopticism and Social Media. ResearchGate.

Ilmanen, A. (2023). Foucault, social media and climate change deniers: Disciplining abnormality through internet memes. Medium

Rogan, F.,(2024) “Evolving Notions of Consumption, “Influencing” and Postfeminist Femininity in Digital Cultures: A Perspective Piece”, Global Storytelling: Journal of Digital and Moving images.




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