This presentation is concerned with the neoliberalization of the Nordic welfare state and especially how it takes place via therapeutic policies and practices in education. This presentation argues that neoliberal welfare state reform is intensified by therapeutic policies and practices as they aim at producing resilient edu-citizens who provide for their own needs and constantly develop their competitiveness. By treating social problems as questions of individual deficits and improvement, therapeutic policies and practices conceal the dynamic of abandonment, as the state is constantly divesting its responsibilities towards its citizens. By analyzing recent round of policy reform in education in Finland, this presentation aims to show how the neoliberalization of the welfare state is not only intensified by therapeutic ethos, but also how the state acts as a powerful instrument of this reform.

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