Editorial: The effects of policies for the education and learning of adults - from \u27adult education\u27 to \u27lifelong learning\u27, from \u27emancipation\u27 to \u27empowerment\u27

Practices of adult education and learning have historically been closely related to policy arrangements – often by defining and reproducing the culture of local, regional or subcultural communities – but increasingly in the service of the consolidation of the nation states. Depending on political situations and institutional arrangements, the states in Europe have been involved in the promotion and institutional framing of adult education and learning. Today the role of the nation state is changing in many ways, and it also affects the role assigned to education and learning arrangements. Both policies at the supranational level and market forces have had an increasing influence on the understanding of what adult education/lifelong learning is about. The shifts in the meaning and use of central concepts in this field are illustrative of these changes. In this issue the authors have intended to create a space for reflection on these policy transformations and their consequences. In a call for articles four questions were guiding contributors in addressing ‘the work and effects of policies for the education and learning of adults’: 1. How can we interpret the shift in policy vocabulary e.g. from ‘education to learning’, and from ‘emancipation to empowerment’? 2. What is the influence of transnational agencies and how has this inspired education policy at the national level? 3. How is the role of the state in education and learning policies conceptualized? Are there differences in differing (local/national/international) contexts? 4. What is the future role of the nation state in adult education? (DIPF/Orig.

The Societal Nature of Subjectivity:An interdisciplinary methodological Challenge

"Der Aufsatz stellt einen psychosozialen Ansatz für die qualitativ-empirische Sozialforschung in verschiedenen Bereichen des Alltagslebens vor, der auf einer Subjektivitätstheorie fußt. Anschließend an die methodologische Diskussion, die in FQS vor zehn Jahren zum Thema 'Subjektivität und Selbstreflexivität im qualitativen Forschungsprozess' geführt wurde (vgl. Breuer, Mruck & Roth 2002 sowie Mruck & Breuer 2003), integriert er Methoden der hermeneutischen Textinterpretation mit der Psychoanalyse. Hier ist Subjektivität der Fokus sowohl als Forschungsobjekt und als auch als ein Aspekt des Forschungsprozesses. Der Forschungsansatz impliziert eine enge Verbindung von Theorie, der Reflexion des Forschungsprozesses und des Erkenntnissubjekts: Der Beitrag zeigt den theoretischen und methodologischen Hintergrund psychosozialer Forschung auf. Er reflektiert die Relevanz und die kritischen Perspektiven in der gegenwärtigen Sozialforschung und beschreibt den Erkenntnisweg einer internationalen und interdisziplinären Forschungsgruppe, die diesen Ansatz der empirischen Sozialforschung entwickelt hat." (Autorenreferat)"The thematic issue presents a psycho-societal approach to qualitative empirical research in several areas of everyday social life. It is an approach which integrates a theory of subjectivity and an interpretation methodology which integrates hermeneutic experiences from text analysis and psychoanalysis. Its particular focus is on subjectivity - as an aspect of the research object and as an aspect of the research process. By the term 'approach' is indicated the intrinsic connection between the theorizing of an empirical object and the reflection of the research process and the epistemic subject. In terms of methodology it revives the themes originally launched in FQS exactly ten years ago: 'Subjectivity and Reflectivity in Qualitative Research' (Breuer, Mruck & Roth, 2002; Mruck & Breuer, 2003). This editorial introduction presents the intellectual background of the psycho-societal methodology, reflects on its relevance and critical perspectives in a contemporary landscape of social science, and comments the way in which an international and interdisciplinary research group has developed this approach to profane empirical research." (author's abstract

Life Long Learning and Collective Experience

The paper examines two aspects of collective experience and lifelong learning and invites a cross cultural discussion. The first theme concerns the historical conditions for Life Long Learning, especially in work. The second deals with the conceptual differences between German critical theory and post-modern discourses of lifelong learning