Learning, Work and Social Responsibility

This book captures the contradictions and dangers of equating lifelong learning with individualisation and individual responsibility in high insecurity societies. The author develops unique conceptual schema for rethinking 'structure and agency'.

The concept of individual responsibility has taken on a signi?cance comparable to that of 'choice' in the global rise of neo-liberalism of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. The rise of neo-liberalism is most often analysed through the lenses of theory, governmentality and societal structures. There has been a tendency for an- ysis to become overly abstract with the subjective experiences of the social actors missing dimensions in the literature. This book draws on more than 20 years of international research that has focused on the subjective experiences of people as actors in changing social landscapes. These landscapes are differently positioned politically, economically and socially, in relation to the rise of neo-liberalism. Comparisons enable the differences in people's experiences to be located, explored and explained in relation to different soc- economic landscapes, thus throwing into relief the effects of neo-liberal policies where they are found. My approach is to create an extended dialogue between ideas and evidence, starting close to home, and then extending to speci?c international comparisons and to wider explorations of the central themes of the book: human agency and social responsibility. Finally, I return to social landscapes of Britain, to review the position and potential for social change in societies that exemplify what Sennett has termed 'Anglo-American regimes', in contrast to 'Rhine regimes' as exempli?ed by Germany.

Klappentext

The political consensus on lifelong learning which marked the end of the 20th century fundamentally reshaped discourses on the role of lifelong learning. In 'knowledge-based' economies, we are engaged in a lifelong competition for livelihoods; learning for a living as part of a global learning revolution.

The argument (of the author), put simply, revolves around social justice, and active and engaged citizenry. Policies to encourage lifelong learning are based on the view that individuals must learn new things primarily to secure employment in an ever-changing world. The result of these policies has been to open up unsustainable inequalities which ordinary people are unlikely to tolerate for much longer. For politicians, bringing politics closer to the world and aspirations of ordinary people will mean seeking solutions based on broader and fairer forms of meritocracy and bringing work and the pursuit of broader social purposes into a better balance at all levels of the social world.

Inhalt
Learning for a Living: The Powerful, the Dispossessed and the Learning Revolution.- Taking Control?: Early Adult Life in Contrasting Social Landscapes.- Students Anticipating the Future.- Workers in Control of the Present?.- Living at the Margins and Finding Ways toWork.- Gender, Work and Learning.- Participation, Social Life and Politics.- Beyond Individualisation: Human Strivings for Control of Their Lives.- Systems and Societies in Transition: Challenging Inequalities, Choosing Inclusion.