I am a SHARP Professor at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, working across the Centre for Social Research in Health and the Social Policy Research Centre
This is the Introduction to my book The Quantified Self: A Sociology of Self-Tracking Cultures, (... more This is the Introduction to my book The Quantified Self: A Sociology of Self-Tracking Cultures, (2016). Cambridge: Polity Press.
This book examines the ways in which human embryos and foetuses are created, represented, commodi... more This book examines the ways in which human embryos and foetuses are created, represented, commodified and treated across the social worlds they inhabit: the maternal body, the medical surgery, the laboratory, the cryogenic storage facility, the abortion clinic, the social and news media and so on. It incorporates discussion both of unborn entities outside the human body and those that are created and exist within the body, and covers such contentious topics as abortion politics, stem cell research and regenerative medicine and the disposal of surplus IVF embryos. It also looks at women's experiences of their unborn, prenatal testing, the representation of the unborn as endangered and the commodification of unborn entities.
Proceedings of the 2017 CHI Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2017
This one-day workshop will encourage the emergence of more critical and socially oriented perspec... more This one-day workshop will encourage the emergence of more critical and socially oriented perspectives to a data-driven life. We adopt a focus on how data mediates relationships-personal, professional, across social networks and cross-culturally-to consider the social and cultural implications of quantified lifestyles. At the workshop, attendees will engage in panel discussions, and a series of 'speed-dates' to develop a catalogue of compelling relationships with data, which exemplify the social nature of personal informatics tools, and the opportunities and challenges for design.
This is the Introduction to my book The Quantified Self: A Sociology of Self-Tracking Cultures, (... more This is the Introduction to my book The Quantified Self: A Sociology of Self-Tracking Cultures, (2016). Cambridge: Polity Press.
This book examines the ways in which human embryos and foetuses are created, represented, commodi... more This book examines the ways in which human embryos and foetuses are created, represented, commodified and treated across the social worlds they inhabit: the maternal body, the medical surgery, the laboratory, the cryogenic storage facility, the abortion clinic, the social and news media and so on. It incorporates discussion both of unborn entities outside the human body and those that are created and exist within the body, and covers such contentious topics as abortion politics, stem cell research and regenerative medicine and the disposal of surplus IVF embryos. It also looks at women's experiences of their unborn, prenatal testing, the representation of the unborn as endangered and the commodification of unborn entities.
Proceedings of the 2017 CHI Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2017
This one-day workshop will encourage the emergence of more critical and socially oriented perspec... more This one-day workshop will encourage the emergence of more critical and socially oriented perspectives to a data-driven life. We adopt a focus on how data mediates relationships-personal, professional, across social networks and cross-culturally-to consider the social and cultural implications of quantified lifestyles. At the workshop, attendees will engage in panel discussions, and a series of 'speed-dates' to develop a catalogue of compelling relationships with data, which exemplify the social nature of personal informatics tools, and the opportunities and challenges for design.
Fabricated food using 3D printing technologies has the potential to address challenges that have ... more Fabricated food using 3D printing technologies has the potential to address challenges that have been identified by food activists and those contributing to scholarship on the politics of food. These include food sustainability, food waste, ethical consumption, environmental degradation and world hunger issues. 3D printed food is such a new phenomenon that very little research has been conducted on what members of the public make of it and how receptive they may be to the idea of consuming it. In this chapter, we draw on responses to an online discussion group with 30 Australian participants that examined these issues. The participants’ responses revealed an initial lack of knowledge about 3D printers in general and even less about 3D printed food. Once they had been introduced to some examples and asked to respond to them, a range of attitudes was expressed. These attitudes drew on longstanding cultural meanings around food, particularly those relating to ideas of ‘natural’ food, what food should look like, what matter is considered edible and the processing of this matter. Key challenges to accepting 3D printed food evident in the participants’ responses include how the technology redefines what ‘food’ is, how food should be made or manufactured and the limits of the manipulation of edible ingredients. We conclude that those who promote the concept of fabricating food with 3D printers, including activists for sustainability and ethical consumption, need to come to terms with these cultural meanings and dilemmas when they are seeking to naturalise what is perceived to be a very ‘unnatural’ way of producing edible matter.
3D printing technologies are beginning to be employed to fabricate new food products. One of the ... more 3D printing technologies are beginning to be employed to fabricate new food products. One of the more unusual and potentially controversial adoptions of this novel food technology involves the use of laboratory-cultured meat or insectbased ingredients to support ethical consumption, food security, and environmental sustainability initiatives. In this article, we discuss findings from our study involving an online discussion group with Australian participants concerning their attitudes to a novel technology that combined new food processing and presentation devices (the 3D printer) with a range of ingredients. The participants recognized the potential benefits of insect-and cultured-meat-based printed food for society. However, their own priorities for food consumption choices centered more on the qualities of health, taste, and naturalness. We found that overall, few participants articulated interest in or support for consuming or serving 3D-printed food products made from cultured meat or insects. Most expressed their disquiet about the degree of processing cultured meat undergoes. It was considered to be "unnatural," and therefore not fresh, potentially harmful, lacking taste or not nutritious. Most of the participants also expressed antipathy towards the idea of eating printed products containing insects. While such products were considered more "natural" and nutritious than cultured meat, the idea of eating insects was predominantly greeted with disgust. As these findings suggest, plans to use 3D printing technologies to render ingredients such as cultured meat and insects more acceptable and appealing to consumers in countries like Australia have major cultural barriers to overcome.
Three-dimensional (3D) printing is a novel digital technology that has gathered momentum and publ... more Three-dimensional (3D) printing is a novel digital technology that has gathered momentum and public recognition over the past few years. In this chapter, I examine the sociocultural and political dimensions of 3D printing technologies. I begin with an overview of the third wave human-computer interaction (HCI) approach to digital technologies and contributions made by social and cultural theory that are relevant to understanding the broader contexts of 3D printing technologies and how they are represented, discussed and experienced. This is followed by a discussion of the sociotechnical imaginaries that animate speculations about their possibilities and the agential capacities identified by research investigating the lived experiences of those who have tried using these technologies. The chapter ends with some brief reflections on future research directions.
In recent times, sociocultural theorists have turned their attention to examining the role played... more In recent times, sociocultural theorists have turned their attention to examining the role played by concepts of 'risk'in contemporary western societies. It has been argued that discourses on risk have become pervasive, and are now widely used to explain deviations from the norm, misfortune and frightening events. Unlike in previous times, when misfortunes were often attributed to something out of individuals' control, such as the gods or fate, the concept of risk in late modernity assumes that 'something can be done'to prevent ...
This report outlines findings from an international online survey of 711 academics about their us... more This report outlines findings from an international online survey of 711 academics about their use of social media as part of their work conducted in January 2014. The survey sought to identify the tools that the respondents used, those they found most useful and the benefits and the drawbacks of using social media as a university faculty member or postgraduate student. The results offer insights into the sophisticated and strategic ways in which some academics are using social media and the many benefits they have experienced for their academic work. These benefits included connecting and establishing networks not only with other academics but also people or groups outside universities, promoting openness and sharing of information, publicising and development of research and giving and receiving support. While the majority of the respondents were very positive about using social media, they also expressed a range of concerns. These included issues of privacy and the blurring of boundaries between personal and professional use, the risk of jeopardising their career through injudicious use of social media, lack of credibility, the quality of the content they posted, time pressures, social media use becoming an obligation, becoming a target of attack, too much self-promotion by others, possible plagiarism of their ideas and the commercialisation of content and copyright issues. The report ends by contextualising the findings within the broader social and political environment and outlining areas for future research.
In recent years, a plethora of visualising and other monitoring technologies directed at female f... more In recent years, a plethora of visualising and other monitoring technologies directed at female fertility and reproduction have emerged. The introduction of new software applications and hardware devices has led to novel ways of portraying and surveilling the fertile female body. Consonant with these technologies is the emergence of a discourse that valorises self-tracking, or the voluntary monitoring of one’s body for health, wellbeing and self-optimisation, often employing digital devices. These discourses and technologies configure the subject of the digitised reproductive citizen, or the woman who uses digital technologies as part of an ethos of devoting a high level of attention to monitoring and managing her reproductive functioning and health. In this chapter, I focus on the numerous digital technologies that have been developed to monitor, visualise and regulate female fertility and pregnancy. I argue that this genre of software is intensifying an already fervid atmosphere o...
Previous research has found that pregnant women and women in the early years of parenthood now of... more Previous research has found that pregnant women and women in the early years of parenthood now often turn to digital media sources of information and support. One recent form of digital media to which they have access is the mobile software applications (‘apps’) available for smartphones and other mobile devices. There are now hundreds of such apps available on the market for both pregnancy and parenting. This article reports the findings of the online survey designed to investigate how Australian women use pregnancy and parenting apps, their attitudes about the information provided and data privacy and security related to such use, and what features they look for in these apps. A total of 410 women from around Australia completed the survey. The use of pregnancy and parenting apps was common among the respondents. Almost three quarters of respondents had used at least one pregnancy app, while half reported using at least one parenting app. The vast majority of respondents who had e...
The developers of public health campaigns have often attempted to elicit the emotion of disgust t... more The developers of public health campaigns have often attempted to elicit the emotion of disgust to persuade members of their target audiences to change their behaviour in the interests of their health. This article identifies and analyses the dominant types of disgust that were employed in a collection of public health campaign texts. It was found that ‘animal reminder’ disgust, ‘liminality’ disgust, ‘matter out of place’ disgust and ‘moral’ disgust were all used in various ways in the campaign materials examined. The implications for how the human body, health and illness are conceptualised and understood and the moral meanings that are related to disgust responses are discussed. It is argued that the use of disgust in public health campaigns has serious political and ethical implications. Advocates of using such tactics should be aware of the challenge they pose to human dignity and their perpetuation of the Self and Other binary opposition that marginalises and stigmatises alread...
Digital transformations are well underway in all areas of life. These have brought about substant... more Digital transformations are well underway in all areas of life. These have brought about substantial and wide-reaching changes, in many areas, including health. But large gaps remain in our understanding of the interface between digital technologies and health, particularly for young people. The Lancet and Financial Times Commission on governing health futures 2030: growing up in a digital world argues digital transformations should be considered as a key determinant of health. But the Commission also presses for a radical rethink on digital technologies, highlighting that without a precautionary, mission-oriented, and value-based approach to its governance, digital transformations will fail to bring about improvements in health for all.
The Oxford Handbook of Sociology and Digital Media, 2020
Since their introduction in 2008, software applications for mobile devices (“apps”) have become e... more Since their introduction in 2008, software applications for mobile devices (“apps”) have become extremely popular forms of digital media. Mobile apps are designed as small bits of software for devices such as smartphones, tablet computers, smartwatches, and other wearable devices. This chapter presents a sociological analysis of apps through the lens of three major theoretical perspectives: (1) the political economy approach, (2) Foucauldian perspectives, and (3) sociomaterialism. Each perspective adopts a different focus, but all elucidate important aspects of the sociocultural and political dimensions of apps. Relevant empirical research is incorporated into the discussion to illustrate how apps are designed, developed, and promoted by a range of actors and agencies and to provide examples of the ways in which people incorporate apps into the routines of their everyday lives. The chapter ends with identifying directions for further sociological research and theorizing related to a...
This chapter addresses the use of social media platforms and digital visual media (selfies, hasht... more This chapter addresses the use of social media platforms and digital visual media (selfies, hashtags, videos, GIFs and memes) in micro-political and macro-political engagements related to food and embodiment. The analysis has its theoretical foundation in feminist material perspectives, particularly the scholarship of Haraway, Barad, Bennett and Braidotti. I identify the agentive capacities, affects and vitalities generated in and through the body/food assemblages configured in these new media. These do not all work in progressive political ways, however. Digital media body/food assemblages tend to represent idealised bodies as those that are highly contained and controlled, privileging disciplined, ‘clean’ and healthy eating, ethical food choices, and lean, physically fit bodies. Uncontained, out-of-control bodies and appetites, and choices such as meat-eating, are typically positioned as disgusting, repellent and morally and ethically inferior. This mode of representation is taken to its extreme in pro-anorexia and vegetarian/vegan social media engagements. At the same time, however, many digital media assemblages acknowledge and celebrate the carnivalesque and transgressive power of carnal and visceral appetites, often as a direct political resistance to ideals of fleshly and sensual containment. These portrayals are sometimes underpinned with disturbing gendered representations, in which men are depicted as aggressive meat eaters and animals and women as objects for men’s carnal appetites.
Gold nanoclusters (Au NCs), which have the characteristics of small size, near infrared (NIR) abs... more Gold nanoclusters (Au NCs), which have the characteristics of small size, near infrared (NIR) absorption and long triplet excited lifetime, have been used as a new type of photosensitizer for deep tissue photodynamic therapy (PDT). However, the therapeutic efficiency of the nano-system based on Au NCs still needs to be improved. Herein, we proposed a strategy using Mito-Au 25 @MnO 2 nanocomposites to achieve enhanced PDT. Au 25 (Capt) 18 À nanoclusters were applied as photosensitizers and further modified with peptides to target mitochondrial and MnO 2 nanosheets to consume glutathione (GSH). In the presence of GSH, Mito-Au 25 @MnO 2 dis-integrated and Mito-Au 25 nanoparticles realized accurate mitochondrial targeting. Under the irradiation of 808 nm light, the nanocomposite ensured highly efficient PDT both in vitro and in vivo via oxidation pressure elevation and mitochondrial targeting in cancer cells.
IntroductionLike other forms of embodiment, pregnancy has increasingly become subject to represen... more IntroductionLike other forms of embodiment, pregnancy has increasingly become subject to representation and interpretation via digital technologies. Pregnancy and the unborn entity were largely private, and few people beyond the pregnant women herself had access to the foetus growing within her (Duden). Now pregnant and foetal bodies have become open to public portrayal and display (Lupton The Social Worlds of the Unborn). A plethora of online materials – websites depicting the unborn entity from the moment of conception, amateur YouTube videos of births, social media postings of ultrasounds and self-taken photos (‘selfies’) showing changes in pregnant bellies, and so on – now ensure the documentation of pregnant and unborn bodies in extensive detail, rendering them open to other people’s scrutiny. Other recent digital technologies directed at pregnancy include mobile software applications, or ‘apps’. In this article, we draw on our study involving a critical discourse analysis of ...
Background A diverse array of digital technologies are available to children and young people liv... more Background A diverse array of digital technologies are available to children and young people living in the Global North to monitor, manage, and promote their health and well-being. Objective This article provides a narrative literature review of the growing number of social research studies published over the past decade that investigate the types of digital technologies used by children and young people in the Global North, in addition to investigating which of these technologies they find most useful or not useful. Key findings as well as major gaps and directions for future research are identified and discussed. Methods A comprehensive search of relevant publications listed in Google Scholar was conducted, supported by following citation trails of these publications. The findings are listed under type of digital technology used for health: cross-media, internet, social media, apps and wearable devices, sexual health support and information, and mental health support and informat...
In this chapter, I take up the vital materialism perspective, particularly as it is used in polit... more In this chapter, I take up the vital materialism perspective, particularly as it is used in political theorist Jane Bennett’s scholarship, to discuss the entanglements of digital data with humans and the work of sense-making. I emphasise the importance of understanding how digital data about human bodies work to generate new knowledges and the implications of this for how people learn about their bodies, including states of health and illness. To demonstrate how vital materialism can be applied to empirical research material as an analytical lens, I will use a vignette from my empirical research on people who use digital devices to engage in self-tracking of their bodies. I focus in my analysis on illustrating how vital materialist theory can provide insights into how and why people take up self-tracking practices for health-related purposes and how they learn from their data.
This publication is a collection of short articles published by sociologist Deborah Lupton on her... more This publication is a collection of short articles published by sociologist Deborah Lupton on her blog and The Conversation website dealing with topics relating to the politics of body weight. The articles include discussion of obesity and fat politics, fat activism, the Health at Every Size movement, fat stigma and discrimination, motherhood and children's body weight, the use of disgust in anti-obesity campaigns and pro-ana websites.
Social Research for a COVID and Post-COVID World: An Initial Agenda, 2020
This blog post offers a list of research questions as a way of kick-starting a social research ag... more This blog post offers a list of research questions as a way of kick-starting a social research agenda for a COVID and post-COVID world. (Please note the important caveat that these are only my initial thoughts based on the current situation in these early months of the pandemic where conditions are rapidly changing.) Researching these topics will generate better understandings not only of the current social impact of COVID, but also continuing or new impacts into the future. Findings will have immediate and long-term applications for contributing to policy and service delivery and development to better support publics as they deal with and recover from the myriad challenges they are experiencing to their ways of life and health status. They will also offer ways forward for how to deal with and manage new large-scale health crises in ethical and effective ways.
These tips are in no particular order, apart from number 1, which I consider to be the most impor... more These tips are in no particular order, apart from number 1, which I consider to be the most important of all.
To fully understand the sociocultural implications of the COVID-19 crisis, it is important to be ... more To fully understand the sociocultural implications of the COVID-19 crisis, it is important to be aware of the substantial body of research in sociology, anthropology, history, cultural geography and media studies on previous major infectious disease outbreaks. This chapter 'sets the scene' by providing this context with an overview of the relevant literature. The perspectives offered by social histories, political economy perspectives, social constructionism, Foucauldian theory, risk theory, postcolonial and sociomaterial approaches are explained and examples of research using these approaches are provided. Analyses of the COVID crisis should acknowledge and build on this extensive body of work, taking inspiration from the valuable insights that are offered and working to contextualise the current pandemic within its frameworks.
Since their introduction in 2008, software applications for mobile devices ('apps') have become e... more Since their introduction in 2008, software applications for mobile devices ('apps') have become extremely popular forms of digital media. Mobile apps are designed as small bits of software for devices such as smartphones, tablet computers, smartwatches, and other wearable devices. This chapter presents a sociological analysis of apps through the lens of three major theoretical perspectives: i) the political economy approach; ii) Foucauldian perspectives; and iii) sociomaterialism. Each perspective adopts a different focus, but all elucidate important aspects of the sociocultural and political dimensions of apps. Relevant empirical research is incorporated into the discussion to illustrate how apps are designed, developed, and promoted by a range of actors and agencies, and to provide examples of the ways in which people incorporate apps into the routines of their everyday lives. The chapter ends with identifying directions for further sociological research and theorising related to apps.
Parents, and particularly mothers, are increasingly using digital media and devices to monitor th... more Parents, and particularly mothers, are increasingly using digital media and devices to monitor the progress of pregnancy and the health and development of their children. A plethora of apps is available for these purposes, including those designed for monitoring pregnancy and the health, development and wellbeing of infants and young children. This chapter examines and analyses the implications of these types of monitoring apps for women’s experiences of pregnancy and the care of children, drawing on the findings of two empirical studies involving Australian women. In doing so, two major literatures – dataveillance and feminist new materialism – are brought together to offer new insights into digitised caring practices in relation to children.
In this chapter, I take up the vital materialism perspective, particularly as it is used in polit... more In this chapter, I take up the vital materialism perspective, particularly as it is used in political theorist Jane Bennett’s scholarship, to discuss the entanglements of digital data with humans and the work of sense-making. I emphasise the importance of understanding how digital data about human bodies work to generate new knowledges and the implications of this for how people learn about their bodies, including states of health and illness. Working with Bennett’s concept of ‘thing-power’, I explore the agential capacities flowing from digital data assemblages built from and with human bodies. From this perspective, digital data about humans are one medium by which bodies are known, enacted, materialised, extended and lived.
To demonstrate how vital materialism can be applied to empirical research material as an analytical lens, I will use a vignette from my empirical research on people who use digital devices to engage in self-tracking of their bodies. I focus in my analysis on illustrating how vital materialist theory can provide insights into how and why people take up self-tracking practices for health-related purposes and how they learn from their data.
This is a preprint version of an essay I have written about self-tracking for a book on informati... more This is a preprint version of an essay I have written about self-tracking for a book on information keywords. It includes an overview of theoretical perspectives that can be used to understand self-tracking and personal data, with a particular focus on vital materialism as espoused in the scholarship of Donna Haraway and Jane Bennet. Reference is also made to some findings from empirical studies colleagues and I have conducted on self-tracking rationales and practices.
This is a brief tabular overview of the key approaches, researchers and theorists working across ... more This is a brief tabular overview of the key approaches, researchers and theorists working across new materialisms. The current version is the 5th revision.
Introduction
Three-dimensional (3D) printing is a process of fabricating objects using computer-a... more Introduction Three-dimensional (3D) printing is a process of fabricating objects using computer-aided design software and hardware that responds to instructions from the software. In this working paper, I provide an overview of 3D printing technologies, including their current and proposed uses. It has been suggested that these technologies offer a way of contributing to the reduction of environmental pollution by reducing the need for transporting goods and minimising waste and energy use in production and may lead to third industrial revolution, including in developing countries. The technologies have also been heralded as promoting open knowledge sharing and creative coding and as potentially contributing to participatory design opportunities and the democratisation of invention, as well as education and cultural heritage. The paper addresses the social, cultural, political and ethical issues concerning 3D printing and outlines directions for future sociological research on these technologies.
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Books by Deborah Lupton
Papers by Deborah Lupton
To demonstrate how vital materialism can be applied to empirical research material as an analytical lens, I will use a vignette from my empirical research on people who use digital devices to engage in self-tracking of their bodies. I focus in my analysis on illustrating how vital materialist theory can provide insights into how and why people take up self-tracking practices for health-related purposes and how they learn from their data.
Three-dimensional (3D) printing is a process of fabricating objects using computer-aided design software and hardware that responds to instructions from the software. In this working paper, I provide an overview of 3D printing technologies, including their current and proposed uses. It has been suggested that these technologies offer a way of contributing to the reduction of environmental pollution by reducing the need for transporting goods and minimising waste and energy use in production and may lead to third industrial revolution, including in developing countries. The technologies have also been heralded as promoting open knowledge sharing and creative coding and as potentially contributing to participatory design opportunities and the democratisation of invention, as well as education and cultural heritage. The paper addresses the social, cultural, political and ethical issues concerning 3D printing and outlines directions for future sociological research on these technologies.