Adult Learning and Technology in Working-Class Life (Learning in Doing: Social, Cognitive and Computational Perspectives) - Hardcover

Sawchuk, Peter

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0521817560 ISBN 13: 9780521817561

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2003

Synopsis

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.

About this title

Review

'... Peter Sawchuk offers an engaging theoretical synthesis and empirical study of working-class computer learning ... he fashions a lively and provocative analysis that reassesses adult learning theory and underscores the hidden but vital realm of informal learning across the multiple spheres of workplace, home, and community ... it is a worthy addition to Cambridge University Press' Learning in Doing series.' Labour/Le Travail

Book Description

This book explores the hidden world of everyday learning in the lives of manufacturing workers from a social perspective focusing on computers. It is based on life-history interviews, ethnographic observations in homes and factories, survey materials and microanalysis of human computer interaction.

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0521817560
• ISBN 13: 9780521817561
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 272