Changing the spirit: A New Perspective towards Entrepreneurship and Career Policies in the Context of Therapeutic Discourse in Turkey

With the new applications of neo-liberalism in Turkey, the characteristics expected from employees have begun to change. Young people who are part of this change have to adapt their career planning to the new market and conditions. In this process, the founding forces of flexibility are developing through personal development, lifelong learning and the appeal of building a career. Entrepreneurship, career planning and lifelong learning discourses are reinforced not only through the market but also by education, schools, universities, media, consultancy companies serving the business world and many other platforms. When therapeutic discourse is added to entrepreneurship discourse, the spirit of Neo-liberalism emerges, which constantly deals with the self, increases the self-responsible, entrepreneurial, flexible and self-centered subjectivity and tries to manage the transitions of young people with entrepreneurial and therapeutic discourses. Especially in recent years, entrepreneurship and career discourses in Turkey have been used in relation to branches of therapy, which include psychological ideas and diagnoses. In this article, it will be attempted to show and how entrepreneurship, career management, lifelong learning and therapeutic approaches have transformed young people into entrepreneurial self-personalities with neoliberalism, and how career construction has been individualized.