From labour to learn 1 : the limits of labour society and the possibilities of learning society

This article presents sociologically and historically oriented reconceptualizations of the changing relationship between labour and learning in the reflexive modern era. First it claims that the whole modern division of labour does not merely reveal the nature by which we define morality but also it is a crucial condition for the whole solidarity of human kind. It creates between people the holistic system of rights and duties, which bonds them together permanently. Then the article comes to the conclusion that the first modern period, and the Keynesian welfare state policy with its homogenous workforce and policies of full employment, has come to its historical end. Consequently, the steady progress of the population along educational pathways into secure full‐time working lives can no longer be taken for granted. The process of the redivision of labour is liable to generate many problems for society and individual citizens since so many of our societal institutions and expectations have been constructed on parameters defined by the labour market, wage earning and promotions. The article then puts forward the scenario of the risk society where confidence coexists with fear, security with threat, credibility with ambivalence, and conflict over the distribution of goods turn out to be conflicts over distribution of bads. The author sees that education has always been seen as a major component in the great Enlightenment project, which has been connected and incorporated by the national state. Lifelong learning on the contrary has been less incorporated, less an early modern, but more a marginal and informal position, waving the flag for both individuals and groups from below. The article claims that the new era of reflexive modernization may see the rise of lifelong learning and perhaps also the partial collapse of the old pre‐modern educational system.

It may be that some of what we regard as European trends in adult education research are at the moment more programmes or wishes than facts, but an understanding of such trends can be helpful for future developments in our research. (Jarvis and Poggeler 1994: 10)