Browsing by Author "Fernström, Pinja"

Wellbeing and its development has gained a remarkable position in welfare policy. Although as an objective for politics it is far from new, I argue, that the objective itself has found new forms and meanings. In my masters dissertation, I see wellbeing as an intrinsically philosophical concept, that when translated to politics takes rather normative forms. Wellbeing as an ideal for education has in itself normative ideas on how children and youths should be and how they should behave. Questioning the concept of wellbeing itself creates a space to examine what do we really improve when improving wellbeing in education and to what ends. By pointing out to the late changes in the welfare state, I suggest that the welfare state has changed to a ‘competitive society’. This, for example, manifests itself as a way of educating children to be self-responsible self-entrepreneurs gaining skills with which to compete in the future labour market. Equality has no space in competition, where only the best are rewarded. This goes against the core values of the welfare state, hence the competitive society. I take to closer examination the OECD report ‘Skills for Social Progress’ (2015), which I analyse discoursively from the point of view of governance. In a future of global challenges, accordinf to the OECD other attributes than cognitive skills will have more meaning in ‘life success’. Cognitive skills are important, but according to the report I have analyzed socioemotional skills have importance in bringing up a ‘happy and successful citizen’. I ask my data the questions (1) what kind of subjectivity takes form for youths in the OECD’s Skills for Social Progress report and (2) how is the developing of wellbeing (socioemotional) skills justified. I argue, that wellbeing as an educational ideal or objective is, instead of actually improving wellbeing, contributing to the neoliberal rationale of creating hard-working, self-entrepreneurial subjectivities. I do not deny that wellbeing could not be improved by these skills, but I argue that wellbeing takes a performative ultra-active form of a way of being. It contributes to the liberal, out-of-date illusion of the American dream ‘work hard and you will succeed’ and does not take into account the various embedded obstacles for ‘life success’.