Public pedagogy from the learner's perspective: women reading self-help relationship books

She reads, he reads: gender differences and learning through self-help books

“…Reading self-help books is a form of 'public pedagogy' (McLean, 2013(McLean, , 2014Sandlin, O'Malley, & Burdick, 2011;Sandlin, Schultz, & Burdick, 2010;Wright & Sandlin, 2009), through which adults access resources from popular culture and learn without the involvement of educational institutions. Past studies of adult learning through related forms of popular culture have included those focused on women's experiences (Jarvis, 1999;Kapell & McLean, 2015;Wright, 2007), but gender differences in informal adult education have not been subject to empirical research in a manner parallel to work done in the context of schools and post-secondary institutions.…”

The cultural logic of precariousness and the marginalization of the sociological imagination: Signs from Mexican self‐help books

“…The one book in this sample that clearly presents a gendered narrative is Not the End . My own previous work on popular culture includes the analysis of gender differences and the performance of femininity and masculinity in the practice of cultural consumption (Kapell & McLean, 2014; McLean & Kapell, 2015; McLean & Vermeylen, 2019). I have not foregrounded gender in this article due to the nature of my sample, and the fact that good textual analyses have already been published – from Hochschild (1994) through Gill and Orgad (2018) – regarding gender and self‐help.…”

“…Men and women read self‐help books with different motivations, approaches, and outcomes (McLean & Kapell, 2015). The performance of gender is fundamental to the ways that people talk about their experience of self‐help reading (Kapell & McLean, 2014; McLean & Dixit, 2018a; McLean & Vermeylen, 2019). Third, while neoliberal discourses structure the messages of self‐help texts, readers do not necessarily internalize such discourses in a straightforward manner (McLean, 2015a; McLean & Dixit, 2018b).…”

Individual Autonomy or Social Engagement? Adult Learners in Neoliberal Times

“…Data for this article are drawn from research conducted in 2012 to explore the learning experiences and outcomes involved in reading self-help books relating to career success, interpersonal relationships, or health and well-being. That research has led to a series of publications examining self-help reading as a form of public pedagogy, with implications for a range of topics of interest to adult educators: self-directed learning, life course transitions, generational differences, mental health, and the reproduction of gender identities and inequities (Kapell & McLean, 2014; McLean 2013, 2014, in press; McLean & Kapell, in press; McLean & Vermeylen, 2014; Vermeylen & McLean, 2014). For purposes of the current article, the interviewees from this broader study of self-help reading constitute a sample of adults engaged in forms of learning closely associated with “neoliberal times.” It is important to note that we are not arguing that the experience of self-help reading has caused these research participants to form subjectivities that are relatively more individually autonomous or socially engaged; rather, we are exploring the subjectivities of adult learners who had read at least one self-help book in the year prior to our interviewing them.…”

“…Data for this article are drawn from research conducted in 2012 to explore the learning experiences and outcomes involved in reading self-help books relating to career success, interpersonal relationships, or health and well-being. That research has led to a series of publications examining self-help reading as a form of public pedagogy, with implications for a range of topics of interest to adult educators: self-directed learning, life course transitions, generational differences, mental health, and the reproduction of gender identities and inequities (Kapell & McLean, 2014;McLean 2013McLean , 2014McLean & Kapell, in press;. For purposes of the current article, the interviewees from this broader study of self-help reading constitute a sample of adults engaged in forms of learning closely associated with "neoliberal times."…”