Discipline and distinction in the age of the Internet: a sociological study of the fitness practice

Abstract

This article examines popular fitness sports and home fitness software in China. Drawing on Michel Foucault’s theory of discipline, Norbert Elias’ study on civilization, and Jean Baudrillard’s study on the consumer society, the authors reveal the formation of a new body discipline mechanism against the background of the Internet society and the consumer society. On the one hand, the external disciplinary strategies have been upgraded, including the spatial strategy of liquidity and visibility, the linear and rhythmic time strategy, and the knowledge strategy. On the other hand, different from Foucault’s discussion of discipline, we introduce positive self-discipline. As a unique consumption practice, fitness practices promote a new form of self-discipline among practitioners who also pursue distinctive social positions. The core content of the self-discipline strategy includes code manipulation, time consumption, moral display, and self-writing. In addition, with the continuous infiltration of Internet technologies in daily life, the space-time boundaries of physical discipline gradually blur, whereas the micro-distribution of power changes into a daily distribution form.