When pedagogies pathologize: theorizing and critiquing the therapeutic turn in education

Abstract

This conceptual and theoretical paper seeks to analyze the dynamics and consequences of psychologization and therapization, key mechanisms of the therapeutic turn in education. In particular, it focuses, on how the pathologization of social problems occasions individualization and the production of self-reliant and inward-looking subjects trained to maximize human capital according to the tenets of neoliberalism. Second, it explains the principles of a critical approach to education that is informed by the concept of intersectionality. It shows how this concept might be helpful in interrogating and addressing structurally embedded inequalities and injustices. Informed by the insights of Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw, this approach engenders a contextualized and nuanced analysis of social forces, social identities, and ideological instruments through which power and disadvantage are expressed and legitimized. To further illustrate its importance, insurgent citizenship education, a concept drawn from the experiences of a Philippine school for displaced indigenous groups will be discussed.

Keywords:

• Psychologization
• therapization
• neoliberalism
• education
• inequality
• intersectionality

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 In 2018, the author volunteered to teach Social Studies for three months in a Lumad Bakwit School temporarily based in Metro Manila while conducting research on global citizenship education. The experience provided robust insight on how a secondary school created safe and vibrant spaces for discussing controversial social and political issues. More importantly, it demonstrated the value of building and strengthening mechanisms for articulating and sharing the stories and aspirations of marginalized groups. In 2021, the author published a book chapter on insurgent citizenship and the teaching of controversial topics in two secondary schools. It delved into the experiences and stories of volunteer Lumad Bakwit School teachers.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Enrique Niño P. Leviste

Enrique Niño P. Leviste is an Associate Professor of sociology at the Ateneo de Manila University. He is currently the Director of the Institute of Philippine Culture and is former editor of the Philippine Sociological Review. He has taught undergraduate and graduate sociology courses in the Philippines and Singapore and was a volunteer social studies teacher at a Lumad Bakwit School, a school for displaced indigenous peoples. Sociology of education, political sociology and global citizenship education comprise his scholarly interests. His work has been published in Research on Global Citizenship Education, Industry and Higher Education, Cross-Cultural Case Studies of Teaching Controversial Issues: Pathways and Challenges to Democratic Citizenship Education, Teachers College Record, and the Philippine Sociological Review.