Dr Daniel Nehring, a senior lecturer in sociology at Swansea University’s Department of Criminology, Sociology and Social Policy, has received the Sociologist of the Month Award from the journal Current Sociology. The award recognizes his article "Self-optimisation: Conceptual, discursive and historical perspective," co-authored with Dr Anja Röcke of Humboldt University in Berlin.
Current Sociology is published by the International Sociological Association (ISA), a leading global academic association founded in 1949 under UNESCO. The ISA is part of the International Science Council and holds NGO consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).
Dr Nehring expressed appreciation for the recognition, stating: “I am pleased and grateful for this award, for research on an issue that plays a more and more important role in people’s lives around the world.”
He described the focus of their research: “Self-optimising practices aim to improve facets of the self in a constant, potentially open-ended and rational way. Self-optimisation relates to areas such as fitness, nutrition, beauty, cognitive and physical performance, sexuality and social relations
Seemingly all features of the physical body, the self and the way of interacting with others in everyday life can be optimised, using a wide array of different techniques and technologies, such as self-help books and podcasts, self-tracking devices, nutritional supplements or cosmetic surgery
This quest for optimisation has become deeply entrenched in a culture of ‘upgrade’ or ‘reinvention’ in public policy and in marketing strategies for products and services intended to turn people into the best version of themselves
In the paper we argue that self-optimisation has so far remained under-conceptualised in sociological research. We set out the wider context that is necessary to put this right and propose an analytical framework.
In this way our research is helping to improve understanding of this increasingly widespread and significant phenomenon in modern society.”