Motivated Bodies: Cajoled, Restless and Rebellious

Abstract

Motivation is an unobtrusive word, seamlessly woven through language, relentlessly asking bodies to be energised and enthused. There is no popular or academic consensus on its definition. It is an empty signifier: a medium for the demands of capital to be played out in the minutia of the everyday. Masquerading as a timeless and universally desirable value, it is embraced by studious teens, yoga mums, and corporate executives alike. Yet, prior to mid 1900s, the word did not exist. It is a product of a particular set of economic and social relations. To trace its rise and influence is to more acutely understand the latest iterations of a capitalist system and its implications on individual bodies and the body of the planet. This thesis will draw on the thought of Gilles Deleuze and Michel Foucault, to map spaces from which the imperative to be motivated is articulated. It will trace lines of flights and fissures through popular understandings of motivation, to instead observe its position of power, its influence on the everyday and its role as an instrument of capital.