Pills, Potions, Policing: The Relationship Between Governmentality, Dietary Supplement Consumption and Young Women’s Health

Sammanfattning

The dietary supplement (DS) market, along with the topic of health optimization, is continuously growing. Simultaneously the time, money and health investments of consumers are increasing, which makes the motivations of the consumption a relevant topic to investigate. Research has not sufficiently explored the intersection of governmentality, DS, young women and the modern context they live in. The relevance of this research gap results from the increasing market size along with the structural problems regarding sexism and classism that are connected to the responsibilization of consumers in the health market. This study investigates the influence of governmentality on young women's consumption of DS. Through semi-structured interviews the meaning, concerns and emotions young women attach to their DS consumption were collected and analysed to find dynamics of governmentality. It was found that the authorization of DS does not only rely on expert knowledge alone but extends to social authorities and health standards as authorities. Further the concept of the Identity Project Loop was developed to demonstrate the continuous identity project encouraged by governmentality. The extended understanding of authorization aids in consumer research and marketing practice to rethink mechanisms of governmentality. The IP Loop as a concept allows the analysis of continuou