The Societal Unconscious Research on the Education and Learning of Adults Series Editors (On behalf of the European Society for Research on the Education of Adults) Emilio Lucio-Villegas (University of Seville, Spain) Barbara Merrill (University of Warwick, United Kingdom) Marcella Milana (Aarhus University, Denmark) Henning Salling Olesen (Roskilde University, Denmark) Editorial Advisory Board Michal Bron Jr. (Södertörn University College, Sweden) Anja Heikkinen (University of Tampere, Finland ) Françoise F. Laot (University Paris-Descartes, France) Linda Morrice (University of Sussex, United Kingdom) -RDQQD2VWURXFK.DPLĔVND University of Warmia and Mazury, Poland ) Angela Pilch-Ortega (Graz University, Austria) Andreas Wallo (Linköping University, Sweden) *HRUJLRV=DUL¿V Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece) VOLUME 8 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/esre The Societal Unconscious Psychosocial Perspectives on Adult Learning Edited by Henning Salling Olesen අൾංൽൾඇ_ൻඈඌඍඈඇ This is an open access title distributed under the terms of the CC-BY-NC 4.0 License, which permits any non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. Cover illustration: Photograph by Clane Gessell All chapters in this book have undergone peer review. The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available online at http://catalog.loc.gov ISSN 2542-9345 ISBN 978-90-04-42025-0 (paperback) ISBN 978-90-04-42026-7 (hardback) ISBN 978-90-04-42027-4 (e-book) Copyright 2020 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Brill Hes & De Graaf, %ULOO1LMKR൵%ULOO5RGRSL%ULOO6HQVH+RWHL3XEOLVKLQJPHQWLV9HUODJ9HUODJ Ferdinand Schöningh and Wilhelm Fink Verlag. Koninklijke Brill NV reserves the right to protect the publication against XQDXWKRUL]HGXVHDQGWRDXWKRUL]HGLVVHPLQDWLRQE\PHDQVRIR൵SULQWVOHJLWLPDWH photocopies, microform editions, reprints, translations, and secondary information VRXUFHVVXFKDVDEVWUDFWLQJDQGLQGH[LQJVHUYLFHVLQFOXGLQJGDWDEDVHV5HTXHVWV for commercial re-use, use of parts of the publication, and/or translations must be addressed to Koninklijke Brill NV. This book is printed on acid-free paper and produced in a sustainable manner. CONTENTS Foreword vii Laura Formenti 7KH(XURSHDQ6RFLHW\IRU5HVHDUFKRQWKH(GXFDWLRQRI$GXOWV (65($ L[ Acknowledgements xi Notes on Contributors xiii Kirsten Weber in Memoriam xv Introduction: The Scholarly Landscape 1 Henning Salling Olesen Part 1: Learning, Experience, and the Unconscious: The Psychoanalytic Inspiration 1. Ambivalence and Experience: Un-Conscious Dimensions of Working Women’s Social Learning 33 Kirsten Weber 2. 7KH5HOHYDQFHRI%LRJUDSKLFDO6WXGLHVIRU(PSRZHUPHQW Strategies 61 Regina Becker-Schmidt 3. Everyday Life and the Societal Unconscious 75 Thomas Leithäuser Part 2: Understanding Individual Learning and Learning Careers in Life History 4. $JJUHVVLRQ5HFRJQLWLRQDQG4XDOL¿FDWLRQ2QWKH6RFLDO Psychology of Adult Education and Learning in Everyday Life 83 Kirsten Weber 5. 7KH0LON/DG\$1XUWXULQJ,GHQWL¿FDWLRQ2EMHFW Karsten Mellon 6. What Does It Mean to Become a Church Minister? Life History and Imaginations of Future 121 Sissel Finholt-Pedersen v CONTENTS Part 3: Understanding Interaction and Learning in Organizations and Institutions 7. $3V\FKRVRFLDO6WXG\RI&ROOHJLDO5HODWLRQVDPRQJ6HFRQGDU\ 6FKRRO7HDFKHUVLQ7LPHVRI5HIRUP Åse Høgsbroe Lading 8. (൵HFWLYH/HDGHUVKLS"$&DVH6WXG\LQ:RUN3V\FKRG\QDPLFV Peter Henrik Raae 9. 7KH8VHVRI2EMHFWV5HÀH[LYH/HDUQLQJLQWKH(SLVWHPLF0XVHXP Lynn Froggett Part 4: Understanding Subjective Dimensions of Political Processes: Identity and Politics 10. Psychoanalysis, Fundamentalism, Critical Theory and the Unconscious: Adult Education, Islamic Fundamentalism and the Subjectivity of Omniscience 185 Linden West 11. Cultural Identity, Learning and Social Prejudice: The Politicization of Subjectivity in Former Yugoslavia 203 Henning Salling Olesen Part 5: A Psychosocial Materialism 12. Socialization, Language, and Scenic Understanding: Alfred Lorenzer’s Contribution to a Psychosocietal Methodology 221 Henning Salling Olesen and Kirsten Weber Index 249 vi FOREWORD The idea for this book emerged out of a number of conversations and suggestions raised when Kirsten Weber, much too early, passed away in November 2015. Several people – researchers, colleagues and friends in the international community of adult education research – expressed their wish to undertake some kind of homage, an ar- rangement or a publication to honor her work. It seemed to us, at that time, that the right way of paying tribute to her would be to give continuity to her intellectual and SUDFWLFDOHIIRUWVWRGHYHORSWKHTXDOLW\DQGSROLWLFDOUHOHYDQFHRIFULWLFDOUHVHDUFKLQWR the learning of adults – and particularly to promote her particular inspirations from the Frankfurt School integration of critical theory and psychoanalytic social science. She used those ideas as a leverage and a background to bring depth into empirical research on adult learning, not least the learning of working class women and those professions that are mostly inhabited by women. By doing so, she was also partici- pating in the shaping of research on adult education and learning as an academic field in its own right. 6RDIWHUPDQ\LQIRUPDOGLVFXVVLRQVZLWKVHYHUDOSHRSOHLQ(65($DQGZLWKFRO- leagues inside and outside the Adult Education field, we shared the idea to organ- L]HDV\PSRVLXPGXULQJWKH(65($7ULHQQLDO&RQIHUHQFHWKDWZDVXQGHUZD\7KH symposium was held in Maynooth September 2016, and included papers and pres- HQWDWLRQVIURP5HJLQD%HFNHU6FKPLGW/\QQ)URJJHWW7KRPDV/HLWKlXVHU.DUVWHQ Mellon, Linden West and Henning Salling Olesen. The papers have been elaborated afterwards and form the backbone of this volume. $VPHQWLRQHGLWVHHPHGTXLWHREYLRXVWKDWWKHV\PSRVLXPDVZHOODVWKHERRN should focus on the perspectives of psychodynamic and critical social theory for adult learning and education, which was Kirsten Weber’s lifelong engagement. She had a background in the tradition of (Danish and European) reform pedagogy and in the critical theory of the Frankfurt School, but most of her career was devoted to the emerging field of adult education research. She took a role as a committed in- mate – and acted also as a critical liaison with the broader academic arena of critical gender and social research, that is not confined to Education or any other particular GLVFLSOLQH,QWKHODVWTXDUWHURIWKHIRUPHUFHQWXU\DGXOWHGXFDWLRQUHVHDUFKZDV growing with deep roots in educational policies and practices. Critical thinking was very directly engaged with educational practices, based in community work or, more broadly, liberal individualism, and opposing instrumentalism in the system of educa- tion and training. Much academic activity was committed, at that time, to progres- sive developmental projects which soon had to fight their way under increasingly neo-liberal regimes – leaving little space for theoretical work or for deep critical TXHVWLRQLQJ vii )25(:25' Kirsten Weber was engaged in developing theoretical concepts and methods that could connect theory and practice – not in the sense of applied instrumental knowl- edge – but rather concepts to engage critical interaction with agents of the field – adult learners, teachers in professional further education, moderators and leaders in trade unions political education, and also policy makers – enabling a reflection of so- cietal conditions and contradictions, and stimulating processes of self-critical aware- ness among professionals and institutions. From her unflagging interaction, over the years, with practitioners in different contexts of adult education, she developed a reflective pedagogy that illuminated the framework factors which shape education, of any kind, extending the field of professional orientation from the classroom into the entire lifeworld of the students, their biographies, their everyday life, and their motives and aspirations for the future. In a very broad sense, it meant engaging in political solidarity with and understanding of the agents in the field of practice, both learners and professionals, insisting at the same time on the need for a critical posi- tion based in thorough theoretical reflection. This effort is totally in line with the struggles and passions that many of us, re- VHDUFKHUVLQDGXOWHGXFDWLRQDQGOHDUQLQJEULQJWR(65($DQGWRRXUFRPPXQL- ties and webs of affiliation. Kirsten Weber’s particular contribution to the field was to sustain the challenge of recognizing the unconscious dimensions of subjective processes which need to be included in a critical social science about learning and education. She reminded us that the unconscious is not only an individual and inti- mate dimension, but it is pervasive, and effective, all around as well as inside us, as pinpointed by the title of this book, The Societal Unconscious. As said, the best way to honor an academic is to discuss her ideas, keep them alive, transform them, and use them to make, hopefully, a better society. Laura Formenti University of Milano Bicocca, Italy Chair of the European Society for Research on the Education of Adults – ESREA viii THE EUROPEAN SOCIETY FOR RESEARCH ON THE EDUCATION OF ADULTS (ESREA) (65($ LV D (XURSHDQ VFLHQWLILF VRFLHW\ ,W ZDV HVWDEOLVKHG LQ WR SURYLGH D European-wide forum for all researchers engaged in research on adult education and learning and to promote and disseminate theoretical and empirical research in the field. Since 1991 the landscape of adult education and learning