The present article attempts to substantiate the increased attention to the measurement and development of students' social-emotional skills. Social-emotional skills are defined as individual characteristics resulting from biological predispositions and environmental factors and conceptually independent of cognitive skills while being associated with social well-being. The article outlines an important aspect of these skills, i.e. their developmental potency. The theoretical framework of the article is M. Foucault's concept of a disciplinary society, linking the collection of data on the latent characteristics of an individual and the strengthening of control over him as a “productive body”. The development of social and emotional skills, in turn, is seen as a way to produce public good within the neoliberal paradigm. The authors point to the complexity of modern views on the individual as a political subject endowed with agency and a sense of responsibility. It is assumed that the achievement of success requires the development of a set of essential skills in individuals, which implies there exists a social demand for them. The article addresses the adjacent problem of social inequality. The article formulates two functions of social and emotional skills development, namely, the disciplinary function and the function of mitigating social inequality. Finally, the article analyzes the most influential frameworks of social-emotional skills and reflects on their formation and evolution. The authors aim to engage the psychological community in the discussion of the process of formation and evaluation of socio-emotional skills in order to bring a more subtle understanding of human behavior.