Changing the Subject of Education? A Critical Evaluation of ‘Vulnerability Creep’ and its Implications

Abstract

Vulnerability has become a ubiquitous description in policy and everyday educational settings as well as a foundation for a progressive politics, inside and outside education. Increasingly embedded in apocalyptic discourses about mental health, a psycho-emotional interpretation of vulnerability has elevated its status as a powerful and highly normative cultural metaphor. The article uses a critical realist approach to explore wider developments in ‘therapeutic culture’ that frame the rise of what I call ‘vulnerability creep’ in the education system. Drawing together examples of vulnerability creep in English universities, I argue that the Prevent counter-terrorism strategy is a stark illumination of dangers that arise when educational goals and practices are rooted in images of psycho-emotionally vulnerable human subjects. The phenomena explored in the article raise important social science questions that require further empirical and theoretical study.

Lifelong learning, young adults and the challenges of disadvantage in Europe Lifelong learning, young adults and the challenges of disadvantage in Europe , by John Holford, Pepka Boyadjieva, Sharon Clancy, Günter Hefler, Ivana Studená, 2023, 467 pp., £34.99 (paperback), ISBN: 978-3-031-14111-9. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.

“…Despite good intentions, however, being recognised as vulnerable puts people at risk of being held personally responsible for their situation and of stigmatisation. Scholars in education (Brunila, 2012;Brunila & Rossi, 2018;Ecclestone, 2017) argue for a response to this discourse of vulnerability. In this chapter, we explore how young people are portrayed when, though economic developments are the main reason for their exclusion from the labour market and from centres of power in society, they are (or feel) left to their own devices.…”

Control creep and the multiple exclusions faced by women in low-autonomy sex industry sectors

“…to express concerns about the expansion and dilation of cultural meanings attached to vulnerability with respect to the criminalization of HIV transmission ("criminalization creep", Dej & Kilty, 2012), expanding victimization to encompass a wide range of previously normalized experiences, such as bullying ("concept creep", Haslam 2016), and the widespread growth of therapeutic discourse and practices to address university students' ostensibly fragile psycho-social wellbeing ("vulnerability creep", Ecclestone, 2017). As this brief overview reveals, "creep" derives its semantic power across a variety of literatures in otherwise unconnected disciplines from an implied sense of powerlessness vis-à-vis totalizing change.…”

University students and emotional bargaining: a comparative study of staff perspectives in Northern Europe

“…Again, the English respondents were especially vocal in these respects, though similar sentiments were rehearsed across the sample. Some comments further echo elements of Ecclestone's (2017) "Support provisions may have a vested interest in responding sympathetically to a student's emotional bargaining approach. Recruitment driven provision may mean that some students use emotional approaches as a survival strategy in a challenging environment."…”