Women and consciousness in the 'learning organisation': emancipation or exploitation

The goal of this study was to uncover the contradictions inherent in the philosophy and practice of the learning organisation. Through a Marxist-feminist analysis of recent shifts in adult education and workplace structure, the study attempts to uncover the function of the learning organisation in the capitalist political economy, the location of workers in relation to the learning organisation and the role of learning rhetoric in maintaining the status quo. This study argues that the learning organisation model can be seen both as a mechnanism for the extraction of surplus value from workers and as a method of social control. The learning organisation model is often associated with progressive, even emancipatory, claims of inclusion and collaboration in the workplace. However this study argues that the educational legacies of feminism, trade unionism, antiracism and revolutionary struggle are better places to seek the learning interests of the workers that make up the learning organisation.

The goal of this study was to uncover the contradictions inherent in the philosophy and practice of the learning organisation. Through a Marxist-feminist analysis of recent shifts in adult education and workplace structure, the study attempts to uncover the function of the learning organisation in the capitalist political economy, the location of workers in relation to the learning organisation and the role of learning rhetoric in maintaining the status quo. This study argues that the learning organisation model can be seen both as a mechnanism for the extraction of surplus value from ...  [+] Show more