This master’s thesis conceptualisesthe subject as being constituted and reconstituted through discourses and the corresponding subject positions. These define possibilities for practices and subjectivity formation – how the subject can think, feel, experience, function, and perceive the world within these discourses. The paper applies foucauldian discourse analysis to study popular YouTube videos in the genre of self-development, more specifically on the topic of
selfcare and productivity. It explores how youtubers construct the concept of “healthy productivity” and the implications these constructions have on the practice and subjectivity of the viewer. The analysis shows that healthy productivity is established through six discursive constructions, grouped into three larger discursive themes. Healthy productivity is constructed as: 1) non-negotiable selfcare (instrumentalised selfcare, psychological self-help, a moral imperative of selfcare), 2) working smarter not harder (rational work management, cognitive resource management), and 3) holistic life management (lifestyle design). These constructions lean on economic discourses of investment and efficiency, psychological discourses of self-help and cognitive optimisation, as well as on normative discourses of healthism and lifestyle design. Together they constitute the discourse of healthy productivity, which constructs the subject as an autonomous, rational, strategic, and morally disciplined individual who constantly monitors, evaluates, manages, and optimises themself. This
discourse delineates particular ways of (un)desired functioning and has dual implications for subjectivity: the discourse may evoke feelings of control, competence, and empowerment, but it may also lead to feelings of guilt, anxiety, and inadequacy when one cannot achieve
established ideals. Utilising a discursive approach, the paper points to available subject positions within the discourse of healthy productivity and delineates potential subjective experience and practice of the viewer. It highlights an important context for the production of
subjectivity and offers a starting point for further research on psychological mechanisms in the process of discursive positioning, as well as on subjects’ actual experiences. Studies on online platforms invite further research on the interplay between parasocial relationships,
algorithm-based recommendations, and audience interaction in the process of neoliberal subjectivity formation in contemporary society.
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