The contradictions of legitimation strategies and the welfaring of education

This paper explores the interplay between legitimation crises and welfare state contradictions, as well as the extent to which these can be witnessed in the UK education field. The paper argues that these ideas, developed in the 1970s in a changing global context that was placing severe pressure on welfare states, still have resonance in the twenty-first century. While welfare state regimes may have undergone some restructuring in the twenty-first century, they are still tasked with the job of responding to crises and upheavals in the economic sector. The manner in which they respond, however, has changed, which has moved education into a more central role as a tool of legitimation. The shift from a mediated to a delegated welfare state apparatus has resulted in ever greater welfaring of education policy, to such an extent that contradictions can be identified in modern efforts to stave off crises of legitimation at the political level.