Resisting resilience : disrupting discourses of self-efficacy

Webster, David R; Rivers, Nicola

Abstract

This paper addresses the turn towards discourses of resilience within Higher Education, and its shared conceptual space with notions of 'grit' or the promotion of a Growth Mindset. Of particular concern is how these discourses reinforce simplistic conceptualizations of students as 'millennial snowflakes' in need of 'toughening up'. Whilst acknowledging the realities of student anxiety, and engaging with the precarity of employment within the sector, we contend that discourses of resilience threaten to mask systemic issues in favour of promoting individual change. By interrogating these seemingly benign discourses we seek to highlight the neoliberal underpinnings of narratives of resilience.

Citation

Webster, D. R., & Rivers, N. (in press). Resisting resilience : disrupting discourses of self-efficacy. Pedagogy, Culture and Society, 27(4), 523-535. https://doi.org/10.1080/14681366.2018.1534261

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 1, 2018
• Online Publication Date: Oct 17, 2018
• Deposit Date: Feb 15, 2020
• Journal: Pedagogy, Culture and Society
• Print ISSN: 1468-1366
• Electronic ISSN: 1747-5104
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 27
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 523-535
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14681366.2018.1534261
• Keywords: Resilience; Neoliberalism; Snowflakes; Millennials; Precarity; Higher education
• Publisher URL: http://eprints.glos.ac.uk/6113/