Technologies of the Self
Arts & Ideas
BBC
4.2 • 598 Ratings
🗓️ 15 May 2026
⏱️ 58 minutes
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Summary
‘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
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:07.3 | On BBC Sounds, there are podcasts to help you look after your body and your mind. |
| 0:12.7 | From increasing your immunity to feeling more confident. |
| 0:16.6 | Or tips on how to focus. |
| 0:18.5 | Sorry, what will you say? |
| 0:19.7 | If it matters to you, it matters to us. |
| 0:22.6 | Feel good inside of them. |
| 0:24.3 | With What's Up Docs. |
| 0:25.9 | And Complex with Kimberly Wilson. |
| 0:27.9 | Listen on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:30.6 | Hello, you're listening to the Arts and Ideas podcast with me, Shahedarvari. |
| 0:35.7 | Modern life comes with a lot of instructions these days. Breathe deeper, |
| 0:40.4 | sleep better, optimize your brain, track your steps, regulate your emotions, think positive, |
| 0:47.2 | eat greens, soak chia seeds, wear sunscreen, recite your affirmations, manifest your dreams and don't forget to hydrate in between. |
| 0:56.4 | It's a lot. You might know that it's Mental Health Awareness Week this week too, and sometimes |
| 1:01.0 | the job of taking care of yourself can feel like, well, like a job in itself. So in tonight's |
| 1:06.4 | rethinking, we're exploring how we take care of ourselves, whether that's jogging, meditating or |
| 1:11.9 | journaling, like the actor David Morrissey, who asked for a giant notepad as his luxury |
| 1:16.9 | on Desert Island discs this morning. Why do we cultivate ourselves? And who do we do it for? |
| 1:23.4 | Their questions that also interested the French philosopher and historian Michel Foucault, |
| 1:28.1 | and this year marks 100 years since his birth. |
| 1:31.3 | He wrote variously about discipline and punishment, madness and sexuality, |
... |
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