Social Changes and Lifelong Learning

Abstract

The paper analyses the social changes catalyzed by the processes of globalization, capitalism, individualism and late modernity. Keeping these changes in mind, it aims to explain the shift in the policy of adult education, which falls under the responsibility of the state and is in a function of a democratisation of society, towards the policy of lifelong learning. This prepares adults, who are now responsible for their own development and life choices, for the demands of the labour market. Having understood the lifelong learning policy in these terms, we pose the following research question: Is the emancipation of adults possible beyond market demands for self-empowerment?