MEDICALISATION IN NEOLIBERAL CONTEXTS: IMAGINING OTHER FUTURES IN SCHOOLS

Abstract

This article advances an alternative to traditional approaches to the medicalization of childhood in the school setting. Considering that processes of medicalization must be understood in relation to other forces and dynamics set in motion with which they interact and mutually affect each other, this article advances the idea that the use of diagnoses and psychotechnologies for purposes of classification and segregation are, to a large extent, linked to their implementation by an educational model ruled by principles of competition and accountability. To explore other potential unfoldings of medicalisation, I analyse a case where medicalisation processes enter the arena but concerning other dynamics and forces.