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Against Learning
Alessia Contu
Department of Management Learning at Lancaster University, a.contu{at}lancaster.ac.uk
Christopher Grey
University of Cambridge, UMIST
Anders örtenblad
Halmstad University, in Sweden, anders.ortenblad{at}set.hh.se
This article is a critique of the broad ensemble which we identify as `learning discourse' and its pervasive ideological content which determines learning as a `good thing for all'. We consider how the signifier `learning' works as a nodal point which constitutes (legitimizes and sustains), yet glosses over, antagonistic and contradictory organizational and social practices. With our critique we endeavour to go beyond a simple rebuke or rebuttal. We, rather, point out the problematic nature of the truths engendered in `making the social' and constituting the promise of a learning society whose ambit encompasses learning in general, the learning organization and the political economy of the `knowledge economy'. By doing so we expose the political character of the learning discourse which, we argue, works as the surface of intelligibility pro-posing the reality of work, self-hood, citizenship and society. We antagonize its `no alternative' trope by questioning the equivalence it creates between social inclusion, competitiveness, employability, empowerment and personal development. Our critique makes explicit how it is possible, and why it is important, to be `against learning'.
Key Words: critique • discourse • knowledge • learning • organizational learning • politics
Human Relations, Vol. 56, No. 8,
931-952 (2003)
DOI: 10.1177/00187267030568002
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