About this episode
The episode explores the concept of 'technologies of the self' and its relevance in the context of social media and lifestyle trends.
‘Technologies of the self’ is a phrase from the French philosopher Michel Foucault to describe things people might do to shape the people they are, like dieting, exercise, journaling, or in an earlier age perhaps like prayer, or confession. Shahidha Bari hosts Radio 4's roundtable discussion programme asking how this idea might help us make sense of the age of social media influencers and lifestyle trends. Her guests are: Elizabeth Oldfield, host of The Sacred podcast, author of Fully Alive: Tending The Soul In Turbulent Times Anouchka Grose, psychotherapist and author of The Revolution Will Be Internalised Tiffany Watt Smith, historian of emotions whose most recent book is Bad Friend: On Joyous Imperfect love Heather Widows, philosopher and author of Perfect Me: Beauty As An Ethical Ideal and Daniele Lorenzini, philosopher and Foucault scholar Producer: Luke Mulhall Show less
People in this episode
Host: Shahidha Bari
Guests: Elizabeth Oldfield, Anouchka Grose, Tiffany Watt Smith, Heather Widows, Daniele Lorenzini
Topics covered
- self-improvement
- social media
- lifestyle trends
- philosophy
- psychotherapy
Keywords
- Foucault
- self
- dieting
- exercise
- journaling
- social media influencers
- lifestyle trends
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