This investigation has addressed the ideological aspect of the self-help discourse in the formation of a new type of worker, explaining its role in the construction of hegemony. We studied the principles of this discourse in three periods: its genesis in the nineteenth century, in the early decades of the twentieth century and at the beginning of the twenty-first century. We analyzed how the principles of self-help were reproduced in the Delors and Faure Report. Based on Gramsci and Fairclough, we explained self-help as an ideological discourse present in the reports of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). We concluded that the formation of a new type of man by self-help discourse happens not only outside but also inside schools. It contributes to the consolidation of new patterns of bourgeois sociability in times of neoliberalism. For centuries, capitalists have used self-help to perform the (con)formation of a new type of workforce.
work and education; self-help; hegemony
