Weighting for Health: Management, Measurement and Self-surveillance in the Modern Household

Abstract

Histories of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century medicine emphasise the rise of professional and scientific authority, and suggest a decline in domestic health initiatives. Exploring the example of weight management in Britain, we argue that domestic agency persisted and that new regimes of measurement and weighing were adapted to personal and familial preferences as they entered the household. Drawing on print sources and objects ranging from prescriptive literature to postcards and ‘personal weighing machines’, the article examines changing practices of self-management as cultural norms initially dictated by ideals of body shape and function gradually incorporated quantified targets. In the twentieth century, the domestic management of health—like the medical management of illness—was increasingly technologised and re-focused on quantitative indicators of ‘normal’ or ‘pathological’ embodiment. We ask: in relation to weight, how did quantification permeate the household, and what did this domestication of bodily surveillance mean to lay users?

An Augmented Model with Inferred Blood Features for the Self-diagnosis of Metabolic Syndrome

“…A variety of studies attempted to achieve more effective self-management to improve health. [45][46][47] The ubiquitous auxiliary diagnostic approach could substantially improve the national health level based on the following: (1) the precise prediction plays an important role in the enhancement of people's health awareness, which helps people have a clear understanding of their health condition and engage in better self-care behaviors, such as targeted treatments and avoiding blind medication. An increase in disease awareness is helpful in reducing the risk of disease; (2) our method enhances the awareness of MetS and encourages high-risk patients to go to the hospital for further examinations; and (3) considering the population with physical examination habits, our model helps to ensure their healthy self-management in daily life.…”

Measurement, self-tracking and the history of science: An introduction

“…However, according to Bivins and Marland, the bathroom scale did not necessarily mean the domestication of medicine or passive self-surveillance but left plenty of room for individual agency to do whatever a person wanted with the bathroom scale information. 37 Similarly, calorie counting has also shaped the life of many dieters since the early twentieth century. 38 Choice of diet had always been one of the few aspects of health and sickness that was under human control, and keeping a record of what one ate made people aware of their intake and brought structure to eating habits.…”

Constituting practices, shaping markets: remaking healthy living through commercial promotion of blood pressure monitors and scales

“…Requiring systems of weights and specific bodily positioning, large early machines required training and use of a second pair of hands to get a measure deemed accurate. Knowing the weight of children subsequently became part of good parenthood in the middle classes for whom weight highlighted their continued health, or slippage into illness, though the expense of having scales at home excluded many (Bivins and Marland, 2016). Outside clinics, scales appeared across public spaces in the early 1890s in America and in Europe.…”

“…(Qardio, 2015c) Multi-profile for that individual. While sharing weight within a family seems to represent a continuity with longestablished norms of good parenting (Bivins and Marland, 2016), sharing BP reading regularly in this way appears novel. Less surprising perhaps is the material script to send data back to the clinic, given the clinical history of BP.…”

“…It is no surprise that they are hidden away in close QardioBase for designconscious living, with high-end materials and a sleek minimalist design... a luxury element of modern design that is beautiful, durable and warm to the touch, you will want to showcase your QardioBase There is no reference here to associations between scales and weight monitoring. The text suggests that consumers would want to display these objects were they not ugly , disregarding other reasons for hiding scales e.g., associations with overweight, feelings of embarrassment or shame (Bivins and Marland, 2016). By linking scales to aesthetic meanings (sleek, minimalist design) and competences (design-conscious living), producers might be understood as constituting weight monitoring as having -related concerns such as overweight or obesity.…”