From Radical Adult Education to Social Movement Learning

Conceptualizing Learning in the Climate Justice Movement

“…In this article, we position ourselves within radical pluralist SML scholarship in adult education. However, we further understand that in many ways there is a false dichotomy between old and new social movements, as Holst (2018) has persuasively argued, and that modes of analysis associated with each type can in fact be analytically compatible, just as feminist, CRT and Marxist may find common cause. Thus, in our analysis, we do not hold for the primacy of identity or social class, nor the unique positionality of race, gender, Indigeneity, or other axes of oppression.…”

“…This early work debated the nature of “Old” versus “New” social movements as learning sites (Finger, 1989; Spencer, 1995; Welton, 1993) and learning, cognitive theory and the creation of knowledge in social movements (Holford, 1995), respectively. Theorizing of SML has continued to be taken up in other adult education literature over the past two decades as well (Clover, 2002; Hall, 2009; Hill, 2003; Holst, 2018; Kapoor, 2013; Kilgore, 1999; Ollis, 2012; Scandrett et al, 2010; Zielińska, Kowzan, & Prusinowska, 2011).…”

“…Most of this work on adult learning in social movements, in keeping with the “cultural turn” in the sociology of new social movements, has adopted radical pluralist theoretical frames to understand adult learning in these movements, rather than the Marxist–Leninist theoretical frames used to analyze the older workers’ movements (Holst, 2002). As Holst (2018), Torres (2011), and others have argued, predominant conceptualizing about adult education and social change has in many ways now shifted from “radical adult education” to “SML” much in the same manner as lifelong education has shifted to lifelong learning, reflecting the rise of neoliberal market ideologies not only in mainstream adult education (see, e.g., Barros, 2012) but also in radical adult education (Holst, 2018). Thus, as Holst (2018) explains, “The state is downplayed as a potential progressive agent of change in favour of a vaguely defined civil society; non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are favoured over political parties as the most viable organizations for social change-oriented educational work” (p. 81).…”

“…As Holst (2018), Torres (2011), and others have argued, predominant conceptualizing about adult education and social change has in many ways now shifted from “radical adult education” to “SML” much in the same manner as lifelong education has shifted to lifelong learning, reflecting the rise of neoliberal market ideologies not only in mainstream adult education (see, e.g., Barros, 2012) but also in radical adult education (Holst, 2018). Thus, as Holst (2018) explains, “The state is downplayed as a potential progressive agent of change in favour of a vaguely defined civil society; non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are favoured over political parties as the most viable organizations for social change-oriented educational work” (p. 81). Moreover, social class “is seen as just one more form of identity to be added to theories of intersectionality or multidimensional identity formations” (Holst, 2018, p. 81).…”

“…Thus, as Holst (2018) explains, “The state is downplayed as a potential progressive agent of change in favour of a vaguely defined civil society; non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are favoured over political parties as the most viable organizations for social change-oriented educational work” (p. 81). Moreover, social class “is seen as just one more form of identity to be added to theories of intersectionality or multidimensional identity formations” (Holst, 2018, p. 81).…”