The interiorization of reality: subjective turn, therapeutic governance, and the case of internet addiction in china

Abstract

This dissertation explores the trend of internalization across historical, artistic, and sociopolitical dimensions. In the historical dimension, this research reviews the emergence of the subjective turn during the nineteenth century, where the body became a site for the production and management of reality. A contradictory process, it involved simultaneously a shift in people's attention from external realities towards interiorized experiences, and the opening up of the internal experience for external measurements and control. In the artistic dimension, this research examines artworks from the twentieth centuries, ranging from memoirs, documentaries, and science fiction from China and abroad that engage with themes of internalization and subjective perception. In the sociopolitical dimension, this research fosters understanding of therapeutic governance and internalization as a form of social control by exploring China's internet addiction phenomenon.