Popular Education, Power and Democracy

Book excerpt: Popular education, a distinctive Swedish tradition of lifelong learning, has always concerned itself with the relationship between learning, power, and democracy in society, rather than having a purely individualistic and instrumental approach to learning for employability, which has dominated policy and practice. Through the themes of power and democracy, this book examines popular education's contribution to enhancing people's lives in communities. It reflects on the wider significance and explores the impact on the political culture of the state and the cultural politics of society within and outside Sweden, including the US, Japan, Canada, and Tanzania. As a comprehensive and unique collection, the book balances historical reflection, contemporary issues, and the international impact of popular education, combining theoretical analysis and empirical data. *** ...this book provides a wonderful introduction to the historical development and some of the current aspects and examples of Swedish popular education, both in Sweden and beyond....Its various chapters show the continued relevance of popular education approaches to addressing major educational and social issues and their diversity and rich theoretical grounding provide enough stimuli to engage educators and practitioners alike....a key resource in the worldwide struggles for social justice by demonstrating how education can be both (a) a tool for social change as well as for personal transformation and (b) how insights gained from others' actions and struggles can be used by people the world over. -- Tom Nesbit, Canadian Association for the Study of Adult Education, in the European Journal for Research on the Education and Learning of Adults, 2013