Individual Autonomy or Social Engagement? Adult Learners in Neoliberal Times

Abstract

Numerous scholars have documented and critiqued the predominance of neoliberal policies and rationalities shaping adult and continuing education around the world. Contemporary sociologists have argued that neoliberal citizens are characterized by hyperindividuality and a strong sense of personal autonomy. Self-help reading is widely viewed as one of the most neoliberal forms of adult learning. In this article, we challenge recent claims about the autonomy of the neoliberal subject through reporting results of qualitative research undertaken with 134 readers of self-help books. Using an innovative approach to explore people's self-characterizations, we argue that contemporary patterns of subjectivity may be more complex and socially engaged than those implied by prevailing accounts of our neoliberal times. Our findings are important for those seeking to understand the changing nature of adult learners, and for those seeking to understand the complex interplay of discourse and subjectivity in the contemporary field of adult education.

The Power of Positive Thinking: A Hidden Curriculum for Precarious Times

“…We found only minor differences in reading processes and outcomes between relatively younger and older readers , and we documented different patterns of engagement between those whose reading of books relating to mental health was undertaken under the supervision of a therapist and those who read independently (McLean, 2015b). Finally, we found that women reading relationship books rarely internalized explicitly antifeminist messages from those texts , that men were more likely than women to express images of themselves consistent with neo-liberal values such as individual autonomy (McLean, 2015a), and that men presented narratives about themselves as readers that were overwhelmingly consistent with the tenets of hegemonic masculinity (McLean & Vermeylen, 2017).…”

Interrogating Values of Adult Education Practice in Hong Kong

“…In countries with a democratic tradition in adult learning such as Sweden, institutions like folk high schools provide space for collective learning about democracy and they serve to temper individualisation tendencies that would attempt to remould learners as neoliberal subjects [11]. Under the neoliberal discourse is an assumption about a hyper-individualised learner but this dichotomy between individual autonomy and social engagement has been found to be more complex than thought where even the purest form of self-help learning undertaken by individuals alone would contain elements of social engagement in it [12]. Thus said, it would not yet be a vain effort to pursue group-based learning under a climate of neo-liberal influenced learning which has dominated the centre-stage of ALE worldwide.…”

Revisión de la autocaracterización: una técnica narrativa constructivista

“…Distintos trabajos emplean el término de caracterización o caracterización del yo. En la mayoría de los casos, se describen perfiles psicopatológicos (Müller, Beutel y Wölfling, 2014) o perfiles de personalidad (Farkas y Orosz, 2013); en otros casos, se describen categorías de contenido temático (Lindquist y Barrett, 2008) y también se plantean como descripciones narrativas que sirven para obtener información del yo sin un esquema prefijado (McLean, 2015;Traen y Sorensen, 2008;Stephenson, Laszlo, Ehmann, Robert M. H. Lefever y Robin Lefever, 1997). George A.…”