In this article, we research and revisit our own experiences of gender equality work to determine the societal and discursive power relations that have shaped gender equality. We conducted our study in Finland, a 'Nordic model of gender equality', but we argue that these results have worldwide relevance, especially since Nordic models of gender…

How knowledge capitalism retools the scope of academic research and researchers is an issue which this article ties to the project market in the ethos of knowledge capitalism. In Finland, academic research has been forced to apply for funding in project-based activities reflecting European Union policies. The project market, which in this article…

Researchers often find themselves reflecting on either/or questions. This article examines the multiple discursive reality of gender equality, a topic comprising several juxtapositions connected to either/or thinking which also provide the topic its legitimacy. The examples come from the context of gender equality work and gender equality policy,…

Prison education is seen in both criminal and education policies as a way of assimilating inmates 'back into society'. In spite of the policy emphasis on education, the practices in prison education vary from prison to prison. The stated aim of prison education in EU and in Finnish national level policies is to teach inmates the skills and…

This article focuses on the idea of entrepreneurial subjectivity and the ways in which it is shaped by the entrepreneurial discourse in adult education. As a result, we argue that educational practices related to adults form a particular kind of ideal subjectivity that we refer to as entrepreneurial. In order to understand how this entrepreneurial…

In the neoliberal order, the ideal self is self-responsible, enterprising, flexible and self-centred. Regarding this ideal we argue that the rise of therapisation in society, and in education, particularly, links both the therapeutic and enterprising discourses. The article examines how these discourses jointly produce and legitimate the ideal,…

In numerous countries, pessimism about enduring social and educational inequalities has produced a discernible therapeutic turn in education policy and practice, and a parallel rise in therapeutic understandings of social justice. Focusing on developments in England and Finland, this article explores the ways in which radical/critical…

This article concerns gender equality work, that is, those educational and workplace activities that involve the promotion of gender equality. It is based on research conducted in Sweden and Finland, and focuses on the period during which the public sector has become more market-oriented and project-based all over the Nordic countries. The…

This article deals with challenging the gender inequalities that exist in education and working life. It contemplates the kinds of discursive power relations that have led to gender equality work in Finland. In today's conditions where equality issues are being harnessed more strongly to serve the aims of economic efficiency and productivity, it…

Education in Finland is facing new challenges in the form of two related trends: "therapisation" and "projectisation". The concept of therapisation describes the ways in which ideas, discourses and practices from counselling, therapy, psychiatry, educational and clinical psychology become internalised and normalised in…

Publicly funded projects with economic aims and discourses have permeated the public sector, including education. In practice this has meant a shift whereby publicly funded education has evolved into a series of business-oriented projects with individually targeted activities. The rapidly increasing amount of project-based work in education is a…