Contact address

LLinE

KVS Foundation

Haapaniemenkatu 7 - 9

FIN-00530 HELSINKI

Finland

e-mail: lline (at) kvs.fi

phone: +358 (0)207 511 591

fax: +358 (0)207 511 502

Ari Antikainen: Abstract

Participation, Welfare Regime and Life History

What are the effects and meanings of participation in adult education and lifelong learning for society and its individual members? This is the subject of my study that applies both the survey and the biographical method. My perspective is formed of three dialectical relationships:

Global and local (national). How does participation vary by welfare regime? What are the differences between countries representing the Nordic welfare state model, the liberal welfare state model and the conservative welfare state model (Esping-Andersen)? Is the Nordic model more topical than ever?

Reproduction and transformation. Education and adult education reproduce the social class structure. Are there possibilities to level out class differences towards the direction of equal opportunities? Is there space for education policy, state interventions and their influences? Does Bildung exist?

Institutional and creative. It is always an individual decision to participate in adult education and learning? What kind of interests do individuals have? What are the contexts of participation in individual life courses? What kind of learning life histories, in other words life stories in their social contexts, can we find? What kind of conditions are there for empowerment?