Adult Learning and Technology in Working-Class Life

Front Cover
Cambridge University Press, 3. märts 2003 - 252 pages
To date little is known about the everyday activities that make up the majority of people's learning lives. This book presents a critical approach to learning using situated learning and activity theory, drawing on the writings of Marx, Gramsci, Marxist-feminists, as well as the sociology of Bourdieu. Though many have demonstrated that schooling and adult training are deeply affected by issues of social class, this book explodes the myth that everyday learning, despite its apparent openness and freedom, can be understood as class-neutral. Based on life-history interviews, selected ethnographic observations in homes and factories, large-scale survey materials as well as microanalysis of human computer interaction, the analysis explores learning across the various spheres of 'working-class life'. The author draws on his own experience as a factory worker, labour educator and academic to offer the most detailed examination of computer literacy and lifelong learning practice amongst working-class people currently available.
 

Contents

A Historical Materialist Examination of Theories
23
Understanding Working
47
Understanding WorkingClass Standpoints
124
Oral Culture Computer Learning and Social
150
Material Barriers in WorkingClass Computer
173
Contradiction and Commodification in Working
199
Conclusions and Implications
218
Characteristics of Interviewees
231
Some Further Notes on Sequential Analysis
234
Index
249
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