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1

‘Non-traditional students’ at european universities. A special problem of social inequality

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Alheit P.

Dyskursy Młodych Andragogów / Adult Education Discourses

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2021

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vol. 22

159-170

EN

The following contribution is based on the qualitative data of a seven-country comparative study on the situation of ‘non-traditional students’ at European universities. It focuses on two key findings of an extensive analysis: (1) deeper theoretical insights that emerge from the wealth of data and that are condensed into Axel Honneth’s ‘theory of recognition’; (2) a revealing comparison of the ‘university cultures’ of the seven countries studied. A brief conclusion for future university policies in Europe closes the contribution.

2

The transitional potential of ‘biographicity’

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Alheit P.

Dyskursy Młodych Andragogów / Adult Education Discourses

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2021

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vol. 22

113-123

EN

‘Biographicity’ is a concept that has been discussed in international adult education for more than 30 years. It has stimulated research concepts and has become a metaphor for the resilience potential of biographical learning processes in modernised modern societies. A basic theoretical foundation has so far been lacking. This article attempts to provide such a foundation. It first introduces the quite sophisticated conception of ‘biography’ and emphasises the dialectical tension between structure and emergence (1), then turns to the challenge of describing ‘the social’ from the perspective of the acting subject – the ‘biographicity of the social’, as it were (2), and ends with a reflection on biographical learning (3) that overcomes its own limits (‘transitional learning’).

3

New epistemological challenges in biographical research in ‘Postmodernity’

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Alheit P.

Dyskursy Młodych Andragogów / Adult Education Discourses

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2020

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vol. 21

93-103

EN

The following article deals with the problem of a dramatic change of the modern ‘subject code’. Modernity has changed. The magic of individuality, the autonomy of the subject that successfully opposes the class conventions of pre-modernity has probably become a myth and perhaps turned into a compulsion to be ‘singular’ in late modernity, as Andreas Reckwitz points it. We rediscover new dimensions of ‘subjectivisation’ and ‘governmentality’, as Michel Foucault identified it decades before. And we are even reminded of Pierre Bourdieu’s polemical thesis that the idea of a consistent biography is a pure illusion. Has ‘modern subject’ lost its importance? Is there no way out from this perspective? The article closes with a ‘skeptical optimism’

PL

Poniższy artykuł dotyczy problemu radykalnej zmiany współczesnego „kodu podmiotu”. Nowoczesność uległa zmianie. Magia indywidualności, autonomia podmiotu, który skutecznie przeciwstawia się klasowym konwencjom przednowoczesności, w późnej nowoczesności stała się prawdopodobnie mitem i być może przekształciła się w przymus bycia „szczególnym” (singular), jak wskazuje Andreas Reckwitz. Odkrywamy na nowo inne wymiary „subiektywizacji” i „rządomyślności”, zidentyfikowane kilka dekad wcześniej przez Michela Foucaulta. Przypomina się nawet polemiczna teza Pierre’a Bourdieu, że idea spójnej biografii to czysta iluzja. Czy „nowoczesny podmiot” stracił na znaczeniu? Czy nie ma wyjścia z tej perspektywy? Artykuł kończy się w duchu „sceptycznego optymizmu”.

4

The concept of “biographicity” as background theory of lifelong learning?

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Alheit P.

Dyskursy Młodych Andragogów / Adult Education Discourses

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2018

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vol. 19

9-22

EN

The article gives an idea of a new conceptualization of lifelong learning taking into account that learning in the life course is framed by cultural and mentality patterns. The background resource of our learning potential represents both an intimate personal dimension and a vivid social aspect. The concept of ‘biographicity’ has been created as an expression of this interwovenness. Empirical examples from the US society, from China and Germany show interesting differences of mental framing patterns in lifelong learning processes.

PL

W niniejszym artykule autor stara się pokazać nowe ujęcie idei uczenia się przez całe życie. W swoim opisie tej kwestii bierze on pod uwagę to, że nasze ścieżki edukacyjne są kształtowane przez kulturę i mentalność w niej zakotwiczoną. W tym sensie potencjał naszego uczenia się jest wypadkową zarówno indywidualnych, jak i społecznych aspektów życia, a koncepcja biograficzności – do której odwołują się andragodzy – stanowi odzwierciedlenie tego mechanizmu. Przywołane w tekście empiryczne przykłady uczenia się w takich społeczeństwach jak społeczeństwo Stanów Zjednoczonych, Chin, Niemiec świadczą, zdaniem autora, o interesujących wzorach różnic w procesie całożyciowego uczenia się ukształtowanych mentalnie i kulturowo.

5

Reflexive self-distancing as a way out. Memories of the first “self-determined” intellectual learning process

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Alheit P.

Dyskursy Młodych Andragogów / Adult Education Discourses

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2024

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vol. 25

24-30

EN

The text relates the detached relationship the author had as a child and young man to the religious practices of his family of small farmers, lay preachers and small government employees in central Germany. The author describes in particular the central importance for his own intellectual development of the German Lutheran theologian Rudolf Karl Bultmann, a major figure of early-20th‑century biblical studies. Through his intense occupation with Bultmann’s ideas, the author as a young man freed himself from the grip of family piety and developed a sceptical attitude towards intellectual mainstreams and overly rigid professional settings which remained a formative characteristic of his practice as a researcher. He sees in his trajectory dramatic social ascent entailing loss of social “home”, a result of ‘reflexive modernisation’ – which he sees as a very theoretical term for self-organised learning. Despite harbouring scepticism regarding certain late modern concepts of individualization, the author remains attached to the idea of a Community of politically committed researchers who remain interested in the civil shaping of world society (and may occasionally achieve success).

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5 Dyskursy Młodych Andragogów / Adult Education Discourses

5 Alheit P.

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‘Non-traditional students’ at european universities. A special problem of social inequality

The transitional potential of ‘biographicity’

New epistemological challenges in biographical research in ‘Postmodernity’

The concept of “biographicity” as background theory of lifelong learning?

Reflexive self-distancing as a way out. Memories of the first “self-determined” intellectual learning process