This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Säljö, R. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                   What's this?

Human Growth and the Complex Society

Notes on the Monocultural Bias of Theories of Learning

University of Linköping

The purpose of the paper is to contribute to the analysis of the conceptions of learning (and cognition) that dominate research in several disciplines. It is argued that the traditional interpretation of learning rests on an a-cultural and Cartesian conception of human thought and action that in its practical consequences gives ideological predominance to a monocultural understanding of learning and human growth. Instead of attempting to define and describe learning in a 'neutral' sense, it is essential to explore the intertextuality between discourses on learning in order to study how learning is construed by different actors, including institutions. Conceptions of learning, knowledge and human growth are fundamentally cultural in nature, but the dominant rendering of these phenomena in scientific discourse serves to hide such differences. In this sense, scientific definitions do not just describe the world, they also provide support for a view of human growth that is deeply problematic for complex, multicultural societies.

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?