The Quantified Self in question(s)

This article presents social science studies—selected mainly at the interface of sociology, anthropology and STS—focused on the Quantified Self (QS) and undertaken since the early 2010s. Conceived of as a set of tools, practices, techniques and representations, the QS simultaneously represents a socio-political movement of pioneer users and of designers, quantification devices, and a range of longstanding self-tracking practices. After analysing the construction of the QS in terms of the promise it bears and its dissemination, we identify themes in the moral economy of these objects: self-management; discipline, control and supervision; and forms of experience. In the third part, studies of uses are organized according to their context (health and prevention, experimentation, prescription at work or at the initiative of individuals, etc.). Finally, the contributions of studies on the quantification of individuals are put into perspective in relation to the historical sociology of quantification.