How does the global entrepreneurial discourse, which advocates for a neoliberal, individualistic, and future-oriented identity, intersects with a state education system that seeks to establish a collectivist and ethno-national identity?
Over the past two decades, the entrepreneurial ethos has gained prominence in state education systems across
many countries, aiming to construct an entrepreneurial identity among children and youth. The entrepreneurial
ideal is frequently regarded in sociological literature as part of the neoliberal culture serving the global free
market economy. The global entrepreneurial discourse promotes neoliberal values which include future
orientation, personal autonomy and individualisation. Concurrently, state education systems strive to shape a
national identity. In Israel, this objective is uniquely translated to promote an ethno-national, Zionist, Jewish-
Israeli identity. The paradox between entrepreneurialism and ethno-nationalism raises an important question:
How does the global entrepreneurial discourse, which advocates for a neoliberal, individualistic, and future-
oriented identity, intersects with a state education system that seeks to establish a collectivist and ethno-national
identity? The study followed the translation of the global entrepreneurial discourse into the local Israeli state
education system (mamlakhti) among policymakers, educators, and within educational spaces through a multi-
focal qualitative research. Findings reveal a hybrid entrepreneurial-nationalistic ideal emerging in Israeli
education, merging neoliberalism and ethno-nationalism, and combining future orientation with Jewish-Israeli
narratives and symbols. As neoliberal and ethno-national narratives are weaved together, the local discourse
reclaims and reproduces social in/exclusion, marking social boundaries and perpetuating inequality. The
research contributes to the understanding of how discourse (re)shapes the social, by showing how a global
educational discourse is redesigned and translated within a socio-political context.
