Fleming, Ted (2000) Habermas on Civil Society, Lifeworld and System: Unearthing the Social in Transformation Theory. Teachers College Record. pp. 1-17.

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Abstract

The debate as to whether transformative learning theory takes adequate account of the social has contributed to the clarification and development of the theory. But this debate has been, to a great extent, framed within transformation theory. This paper outlines some key ideas from Jürgen Habermas - civil society, public sphere, lifeworld and system, democracy and discourse - that are crucial to unearthing the social in transformation theory. Discursive democracy is proposed as an antidote to lifeworld colonization and the uncoupling of system and lifeworld. The intellectual genesis of transformation theory, as detailed by Habermas, has the practical intent of working for transformation of the lifeworld and also for institutional and system change that is redefined in this paper as a process of discursifying the system.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	Transformation theory, transformative learning theory, Habermas, lifeworld and system.
Academic Unit:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Adult and Community Education
Item ID:	1058
Depositing User:	Dr Ted Fleming
Date Deposited:	08 Oct 2008 14:20
Journal or Publication Title:	Teachers College Record
Publisher:	Teachers College Record
Refereed:	No
URI:
Use Licence:	This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

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