Challenging the role of resilience and vulnerability in narratives of well-being

Abstract

We analyse prevailing discourse on resilience and vulnerability amid the COVID-19 pandemic, with a focus on well-being. This involves a critical review of the Australian Governmental National Mental Health and Wellbeing Pandemic Response Plan, and the enforced lockdown of inner-Melbourne public housing tours by the Victorian Government. We explore these issues within the framework of neoliberal processes that responsibilise individuals for their own well-being. We suggest that Contemporary forms of discourse on resilience are actually unable to address the core issue they seek to confront; vulnerability. We argue that locating responsibility for resilience and well-being with individuals may well exacerbate their vulnerability and ignores any sense of collective responsibility for the well-being of marginalised groups. We propose that the connection between vulnerability and well-being is a moral concern that should be incorporated into political agendas and policies. These should affirm collective responsibility for well-being. Drawing on relational autonomy theorists, we assert that vulnerability is intrinsic to human flourishing, shaped by relational dynamics. Instead of using vulnerability as a tool to justify neoliberal agendas, we advocate for a transformation in our shared narrative of well-being. This shift should focus on embracing vulnerability as an integral part of well-being in relationships, rather than fixating on resilience and well-being as an individual responsibility.