Digital Health Technologies As Sites of Subjectivation: Algorithmic Care, Self-Governance, and the Making of New Health Subjects
RC42 session · XXI ISA World Congress of Sociology, Gwangju 2027
The session explores how digitalized healthcare transforms illness, care, and patient identity. It examines eHealth technologies — including AI-driven tools, gamified platforms, wearables, and algorithmic assistants — as mechanisms that shape how health subjects are constructed and negotiated. The session addresses tensions between heightened self-monitoring and increased objectification, considering how patients, clinicians, and algorithmic systems interact within these technological frameworks. Contributions may explore subject positioning, the role of non-human actors in care relationships, professional identity shifts, and user responses ranging from adoption to resistance across diverse health contexts.
Organizer(s)/Chair(s):
- Robert Aust, Macromedia University of Applied Sciences, Campus Leipzig, Germany
Host committee(s): RC15 Sociology of Health; RC23 Sociology of Science and Technology; RC26 Sociotechnics and Sociological Practice; RC42 Social Psychology; RC46 Clinical Sociology; RC49 Mental Health and Illness
View this session on the ISA World Congress program