Hidden Knowledge: Organized Labor in the Information Age

by D. W. Livingstone, Peter H. Sawchuk

Overview

This book offers an original contribution to understanding an often-ignored aspect of our knowledge society and the much-heralded 'knowledge-based economy.' It decisively explodes the dual myths that working-class adults have inferior learning capacities and that talented youths naturally leave blue-collar careers. Livingstone and Sawchuk document the genuine learning practices of working-class people in unprecedented detail, using richly textured accounts of prior school experiences; current adult education course participation; and a wide array of learning resources in paid workplaces, households, and community settings. The authors criticize dominant theories of learning and work and develop an alternative explanation of working-class adult learning. Their analysis, grounded in the specific practices of everyday life, pays careful attention to the ways in which differential economic power, labor processes, sectoral contexts, union cultures, and access to organized educational resources shape individual and collective learning activities. The book also provides a reflective discussion of research processes suitable for democratic knowledge production in partnership with workers and their organizations, as well as workers' own practical recommendations for changes in learning and work relations.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780742529175
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	01/05/2004
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	360
Product dimensions:	6.26(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.82(d)

About the Author

D. W. Livingstone is head of the Centre for the Study of Education and Work and professor in the Department of Sociology and Equity Studies in Education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, the University of Toronto. Peter H. Sawchuk is professor in the Department of Sociology and Equity Studies in Education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, the University of Toronto.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Introduction: Dimensions of learning and Work in the Knowledge Society: Starting with Workers and Researching the Hard Way (with D'Arcy Martin) Chapter 2 Beyond Cultural Capital Theory: Hidden Dimensions of Working Class Learning Chapter 3 Auto Workers: Lean Production and Rich Learning (with Reuben Roth) Chapter 4 Building a Workers' Learning Culture in the Chemical Industry Chapter 5 Learning, Restructuring, and Job Segregation at a Community College Chapter 6 Divisions of Labor/Divisions of Learning in a Small Parts Manufacturer Chapter 7 Garment Workers: Learning under Disruption (with Clara Morgan) Chapter 8 Household and Community-Based Learning: Learning Cultures and Class Differences beyond Paid Work Chapter 9 Surfacing the Hidden Dimensions of the Knowledge Society: The Struggle for Knowledge across Differences

Editorial Reviews

An important and valuable academic look at knowledge and learning. It is a reference that labor educators will no doubt use over and over again. It shows that, as working people, we are all virtual sponges for learning throughout our lives and deserve to be recognized for the knowledge and skills we acquire at work, at home, and at play.

Leo W. Gerard

This exciting book will change the debate on knowledge-based production. Hidden Knowledge demonstrates that the main barrier to 21st-century workforms stems from managements' continued insistence on control over workers and refusal to rely on worker intelligence and ingenuity. Policy makers and workplace advocates need to read this study!

Ruth Needleman

Hidden Knowledge is an excellent study that I highly recommend; in my opinion, it should be read by anyone doing or planning to provide worker education, whether in the union or in the academy.

Labor Studies Journal - Kim Scipes

Hidden Knowledge goes to the very heart of the claims of a knowledge-based economy and demonstrates the realities and depth of workers' knowledge in powerful ways. This is a major contribution to our understanding of the real connections between knowledge and power in our societies.

Michael W. Apple

Hidden Knowledge concludes that workers are more than someone else's human resources. It is a much-needed counterpoint in a field dominated by a 'human capital' training orthodoxy. In approaching the issues of skills, learning, and knowledge by first talking to workers and through workplace case studies, the authors explore both the richness and importance of informal learning.

Bob White

Livingstone and Sawchuk explore ethnographically the opportunities, longings, and achievements of working-class women and men as adult learners in various contexts, as well as their disjunctures with what is valued by employers. We learn too about related class, gender, and race inequities. This book makes new discoveries and is the beginning of a new direction that will lead to more.

Dorothy E. Smith

Hidden Knowledge is an excellent study that I highly recommend; in my opinion, it should be read by anyone doing or planning to provide worker education, whether in the union or in the academy.
— Kim Scipes

Labor Studies Journal