Learning and Experience: A Psycho-Societal Approach

What Does It Mean to Become a Church Minister?

“…Drawing on psychoanalytic interpretation of subjective experiences and cultural phenomena, where psychological dynamics are seen as produced by societal relations and representing an inner psychological modality of culture, the psychosocietal approach understands learning as taking place through the patterns of interpretations already established in the learning subject. In this perspective, learning is understood to be both biographically situated and taking place within the specific context of the learning subject (Salling Olesen, 2007).…”

“…The starting point and focus of the interpretations was therefore the students' lifehistorical experiences, understood as their specific individual mediation of their social conditions and historical circumstances, generating the individual's subjectivity that unfolds itself in consciousness and engagement later in life (Salling Olesen, 2007). In order to achieve this, I carried out hermeneutic interpretations of the students' life history narratives, guided by the conceptual framework of psychoanalysis and knowledge of the societal, historical and cultural contexts of these students.…”

“…The aim of this chapter is to demonstrate how the psychosocietal approach to interpreting students' subjectivity, both on an individual and a societal level, enhances understanding of their learning development (Salling Olesen, 2007).…”

“…The life history approach seeks to bridge the gap between the individual life course, the societal context of the individual's life that determines his/her experiences and the discourses framing that life and narrated by the individual (Salling Olesen, 2007). Ingrid's struggle can obviously be interpreted in the light of gender stereotypes and a social environment not allowing a girl to be autonomous and assertive.…”

Cultural Identity, Learning and Social Prejudice

“…In my own research, this concept of identity is empirically grounded in studies of the subjective aspects of wage labour and (un)employment and the subjective handling of changes in working life, which reveal crucial identity processes in everyday life (Salling Olesen, 2001, 2007Salling Olesen & Weber, 2001). Work identity and professional identities inform and reflect the subjective meaning of work and of specific professional roles and practices.…”