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U.S. adult and workforce education (AWE) policy was created to support improved economic integration and social mobility for vulnerable populations. The primary framing of legislation has been articulated in terms of helping individuals become more financially self-sustaining (and thus not an economic burden on the state and wider society) through the selection of various educational and career pathways. The purpose of this paper is to explore the political framing and rationale of AWE policies through the theoretical lens of individualisation of social risk, using Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to examine national-level policy. Individualisation, as a theoretical concept, refers to structural changes to the relations between individuals and society where the notion of ‘the individual’ takes precedence over society. Opportunities, dangers, and life’s uncertainties must be negotiated by individuals, instead of by traditional social institutions. Core aspects of the theory are presented and four examples to illustrate how this ‘individualization’ rationale is embedded in AWE policy. We argue that this ‘individualization’ of public programs may become a form of reverse accountability that moves social risks away from the state and employers by offloading the burdens onto the individuals who have the fewest resources to ‘choose’ and manage the risks.
Roumell et al. (Mon,) studied this question.