Governing emotionally vulnerable subjects and ‘therapisation’ of social justice

Abstract

In numerous countries, pessimism about enduring social and educational inequalities has produced a discernible therapeutic turn in education policy and practice, and a parallel rise in therapeutic understandings of social justice. Focusing on developments in England and Finland, this article explores the ways in which radical/critical conceptualisations of social justice privilege attention to psycho-emotional vulnerabilities. Extending older forms of psychologisation, therapeutic understandings of social justice in many contemporary radical/critical accounts resonate powerfully with the wider therapisation of popular culture and everyday life. Using theories of discursive power, we explore the new forms of governance, subjectivity and agency in mainstream therapeutic programmes, and evaluate their implications for pedagogies rooted in radical/critical notions of social justice.