European societies are undergoing important changes in the axiological and political pillars of its social model. One of the main current features of social and employment policies is a radical shift towards the psychologization and moralization of work. An analysis of the key concepts of the EU discourse on employment (employability, activation, flexicurity) allows unveiling the underlying doxas and assumptions. The paradox is a principally rhetorical structure of this discourse. This paradox reveals the perverse nature of the neoliberal discourse which, on the one hand, appeals to personal responsibility, but on the other hand, it deprives to subject of the social and political conditions necessary to be autonomous.