Making Sense of the Learning Turn
Why and In What Sense Toys, Organizations, Economies, and Cities are "Learning"
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Oxford University Press
Published:6th Jun '24
£130.00
Supplier delay - available to order, but may take longer than usual.
From "learning toy" and "learning society" to "learning city" and "learning organization", what is meant by "learning"? The main focus of this volume is to increase our understanding of the "learning turn" referring, in this book, to the frequent occurrence and usage of terms in the last few decades where the word "learning" is the premodifier. The authors also offer insights into the use of the word "learning" as a premodifier in the future and discuss what, if anything, may replace it, such as "knowledge" (as in "knowledge management") and "smart" (as in "smart city"). An extensive range of academic disciplines are covered including political science, economics, human geography, philosophy, linguistics, higher education, working life science, management and organization, and marketing. While a single, overall, unified conclusion is not provided, Making Sense of the Learning Turn presents a variety of voices and perspectives. Some contributors are critical towards the learning turn, explaining it in terms of fashion-following, manipulation, and seduction. Others interpret the learning turn more lightly or suggest a more collective form of learning as an alternative to the individualization of learning that some authors argue has been the case thus far.
Making Sense of the Learning Turn is not an easy feat. Örtenblad and the other twenty authors bravely tackle this quest addressing the significance, value, and consequences of the "learnification". They chart and critically assess its turn-of-century heyday, minutiously examining and interrogating "learning" as a premodifier of such things as cities, regions, communities, toys, groups, and organizations while also tracing and heeding a warning on the emerging new words replacing it. The multidisciplinary breadth, critical depth, and clarity of this book are impressive making it a "go-to" reference for anyone interested in understanding the terms of "learning". * Alessia Contu, Professor of Management, College of Management, University of Massachusetts, Boston *
Insofar as data, information and knowledge have become the engines of growth in late modern societies, learning is their necessary corollary (another is "open"). Yet, strangely, for all its proliferation, we have not had systematic interdisciplinary treatments of learning across time, fields, and contexts. Now, thanks to this wonderful volume we do. Anders Örtenblad, not for the first time, has masterfully brought together several authors who provide highly illuminating analyses of "learning" as a premodifier. Their insights significantly enhance our learning about learning. This is a brilliant volume that I anticipate to make an impact. * Haridimos Tsoukas, University of Cyprus & University of Warwick *
This is an extraordinary book. Its scholarship is of the highest standards throughout, it is edited wisely to provide a coherent publication, and it is exciting, informative, original, and important in equal measure. This book opens the window of assumption, a clearing, where the essence of learning is explored, clarified, and advocated. It confronts much of the appropriation of learning as a premodifier to support other ideas rendered weak without it. The book awakens us to this and other related issues and in so doing should be welcomed and read, many times! * Paul Gibbs, Emeritus Professor of Higher Education, Middlesex University *
ISBN: 9780192865977
Dimensions: 240mm x 160mm x 30mm
Weight: 864g
480 pages