TY - JOUR
T1 - Examining interpersonal dynamics among adult learners through the lens of place
AU - Prins, Esther
N1 - Funding Information:
I am grateful to the program coordinators, staff, and learners who participated in the case studies and shared their perspectives with me. Funding for the case studies was provided by the Bureau of Adult Basic and Literacy Education, Pennsylvania Department of Education. A previous version of this article was presented and published in the proceedings of the 2007 Joint International Conference of the Adult Education Research Conference and the Canadian Association for the Study of Adult Education, Mount Saint Vincent University, Halifax, Nova Scotia.
PY - 2009/1
Y1 - 2009/1
N2 - The purpose of this article is to analyze interpersonal problems among adult learners in three family literacy programs and to identify how these tensions were connected to place or distinctive community contexts. Drawing on the critical geography literature, the article argues that interpersonal problems must be understood in light of socio-cultural and spatial factors such as the history of steel-era industrial capitalism and immigrant settlement patterns resulting from global economic restructuring. By linking micro-level interactions to contextual factors, the article provides a sociological, place-conscious alternative to individualistic explanations of relational conflicts. In short, the group dynamics adult educators and learners encounter in the classroom should be understood as a microcosm of spatially produced social relations outside the program.
AB - The purpose of this article is to analyze interpersonal problems among adult learners in three family literacy programs and to identify how these tensions were connected to place or distinctive community contexts. Drawing on the critical geography literature, the article argues that interpersonal problems must be understood in light of socio-cultural and spatial factors such as the history of steel-era industrial capitalism and immigrant settlement patterns resulting from global economic restructuring. By linking micro-level interactions to contextual factors, the article provides a sociological, place-conscious alternative to individualistic explanations of relational conflicts. In short, the group dynamics adult educators and learners encounter in the classroom should be understood as a microcosm of spatially produced social relations outside the program.
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U2 - 10.1080/02601370802571253
DO - 10.1080/02601370802571253
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:60849116725
SN - 0260-1370
VL - 28
SP - 91
EP - 106
JO - International Journal of Lifelong Education
JF - International Journal of Lifelong Education
IS - 1
ER -