Paper short abstract:

My research focuses on the increase in occupations such as life coach or image stylist. Branding oneself as successful, beautiful and confident, with the help of a professional hand, has become socially and culturally accepted in today’s consumer culture. What discourses, practices and ideals are performed in this “personal packaging”?

Paper long abstract:

My research focuses on the rapid increase in occupations such as life coach, personal shopper or image stylist. Branding oneself as successful, beautiful and confident, with the help of a professional hand, has become socially and culturally accepted in today's consumer culture. In recent years many services have emerged to offer personal help with home renovations, planning a wedding or other events, improving one's personal style or choosing a career.

This new range of services can be explained by the fact that it is now desirable and perhaps even necessary to invest in a personal image. Some people will allow experts to take decisions and give advice on areas that were previously considered private. What cultural and societal changes support this new need? Perhaps the sociologist Richard Sennett's by now classical term "the corrosion of character", as a consequence of working in the New Capitalism, provides some of the answer.

The aim of this project is to increase knowledge of the significance of personal advice services. The project applies itself to characterising this relatively new phenomenon and evaluating its potential future scope. What opportunities and what demands do these services create for people? Are they a real opportunity for development and self-realisation or do they impose yet more obligations? What discourses, practices and ideals are performed in this "personal packaging"?