Starting with Lyotard's characterisation of postmodernity as incredulity, this is related to another of his key concepts--that of "performativity". Lyotard appears to deploy performativity to characterise those technologies that bring about the optimisation of efficient performance. However, there is another sense of performativity where it is…

Examines humanistic guidance and counseling from two perspectives: the notion of confession as described by Foucault (a means of self-regulation) and modern versus postmodern concepts of identity. (SK)

Argues for a less rigid conception of leisure. Describes how leisure has been socially constructed and how the concept is changing in postmodern consumer culture. Suggests that adult education discourse neglects consumer culture and leisure, thus ignoring part of adults' everyday existence. (SK)

The pressures of economic competition affect the narratives of adult educators. Three interrelated themes provide insights into the contemporary condition of adult educators: the turn to "textuality," changes in the economy and organization of work, and debates over postmodern identity. (SK)

Dominant models of experiential learning contain uncritical assumptions about experience. Locating experience in postmodern social practices emphasizes how it is shaped by culture. In critical practices, experience is not something from which knowledge can be derived but is itself knowledge. (SK)

Situates lifelong learning within the framework of postmodernism, particularly the notions of performativity, decentering, and lack of mastery. Describes lifelong learning in postmodernist terms as a condition of constant apprenticeship in which proficiency is never final or complete. (Contains 44 references.) (SK)

Examines such trends as vocationalization, marketization, and the commodification of knowledge within the discourse of lifelong learning. Explores the concept of boundaries in education and lifelong learning and the implications for the role of adult educators. (Contains 58 references.) (SK)

Examines the prospects for university adult education from a perspective of postmodernity. Reviews the economic, social, and cultural dimensions of the postmodern condition and implications for understanding knowledge, education, and the role of the university. (SK)

This book examines the relationship among theory, practice, and research in adult education. Chapter 1 analyzes key features of modernity and postmodernity to highlight significant contemporary socioeconomic and cultural changes that have an impact on adult education. Chapter 2 sketches what a contemporary adult education for citizenship might…