Abstract
Language | English |
---|---|
Pages | 57-73 |
Number of pages | 16 |
Journal | Gender and Education |
Volume | 13 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2001 |
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Keywords
- learning difficulties
- education
- gender
- lifelong learning
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The significance of the learning society for women and men with learning difficulties. / Riddell, Sheila; Baron, Stephen; Wilson, Alastair.
In: Gender and Education, Vol. 13, No. 1, 2001, p. 57-73.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
TY - JOUR
T1 - The significance of the learning society for women and men with learning difficulties
AU - Riddell, Sheila
AU - Baron, Stephen
AU - Wilson, Alastair
PY - 2001
Y1 - 2001
N2 - This article draws on work undertaken as part of the Economic and Social Research Council's Learning Society Programme. The project from which data are drawn, entitled 'The Meaning of the Learning Society for Adults with Learning Difficulties', focused on lifelong learning opportunities available to people with learning difficulties and experiences of these services. The article begins by examining theories of late modernity, their use by feminist and disability studies theorists and their relationship to ideas of a learning society. Subsequently, using case study material, it is argued that the identities of people with learning difficulties are not chosen freely from a range of options but are socially ascribed. The status of learning difficulties is used as a dominant category to justify deprivation of basic political and economic rights. In addition, the lives of people with learning difficulties are structured by gender and class, and these intersect with the category of learning difficulties. For both women and men, the advantages of middle-class social and economic capital are overridden by the negative category of learning difficulties. In relation to gender, men with learning difficulties are more likely to receive post-school training, but in inappropriate areas of the labour market. Their domestic needs are also likely to be attended to by others, but in the absence of employment, they find themselves without any valued social role. Women with learning difficulties are also likely to be excluded from the labour market, but are more likely to be involved in reciprocal, albeit limited, social relationships. It is concluded that postmodernist theories are inadequate to describe the structuring of the lives of people with learning difficulties.
AB - This article draws on work undertaken as part of the Economic and Social Research Council's Learning Society Programme. The project from which data are drawn, entitled 'The Meaning of the Learning Society for Adults with Learning Difficulties', focused on lifelong learning opportunities available to people with learning difficulties and experiences of these services. The article begins by examining theories of late modernity, their use by feminist and disability studies theorists and their relationship to ideas of a learning society. Subsequently, using case study material, it is argued that the identities of people with learning difficulties are not chosen freely from a range of options but are socially ascribed. The status of learning difficulties is used as a dominant category to justify deprivation of basic political and economic rights. In addition, the lives of people with learning difficulties are structured by gender and class, and these intersect with the category of learning difficulties. For both women and men, the advantages of middle-class social and economic capital are overridden by the negative category of learning difficulties. In relation to gender, men with learning difficulties are more likely to receive post-school training, but in inappropriate areas of the labour market. Their domestic needs are also likely to be attended to by others, but in the absence of employment, they find themselves without any valued social role. Women with learning difficulties are also likely to be excluded from the labour market, but are more likely to be involved in reciprocal, albeit limited, social relationships. It is concluded that postmodernist theories are inadequate to describe the structuring of the lives of people with learning difficulties.
KW - learning difficulties
KW - education
KW - gender
KW - lifelong learning
U2 - 10.1080/09540250124323
DO - 10.1080/09540250124323
M3 - Article
VL - 13
SP - 57
EP - 73
JO - Gender and Education
T2 - Gender and Education
JF - Gender and Education
SN - 0954-0253
IS - 1
ER -