Learning in Social Action

: A contribution to understanding informal education. Foley, Griff. (1999). London and New York: Zed Books.

Introduction (pp. 1-13)
Foley argued that the most powerful learning occurs when people struggle again oppression and understand the circumstances they encounter; this learning often occurs informally and "incidentally" such that people does not recognizing it as learning. In addition, against cultural approach to radical adult education, Foley stresses material analyses of learning, contending that capitalism must lie at the heart of emancipatory adult education theory and practice. Finally, Foley noted that incidental learning in the process of emancipatory struggle is also ambiguous, complex and even contradictory, which is one of the foci he drew attention to.

Ideology, Discourse and Learning (pp. 14-26)

"The unlearning of dominant, oppressive ideologies and discourses and the learning of insurgent, emancipatory ones are central to processes of emancipatory change. But these processes of emancipatory learning and action are not straightforward; they are complex, ambiguous, contradictory." (p. 16)