Description:
An important and valuable academic look at knowledge and learning.
Brief description:
D.W. Livingstone is Canada Research Chair in Lifelong Learning and Work at the University of Toronto, Head of the Centre for the Study of Education and Work at OISE/UT, and Director of the SSHRC national research network on "The Changing Nature of Work and Lifelong Learning."
Review Quotes:
Hidden Knowledge goes to the very heart of the claims of a knowledge-based economy and demonstrates the realities and depth of workers' knowledge in powerful ways... a major contribution to our understanding of the real connections between knowledge and power in our societies.
--Michael W. Apple, John Bascom Professor of Curriculum and Instruction and Educational Policy Studies, University of Wisconsin, MadisonAn important and valuable academic look at knowledge and learning... a reference that labour educators will no doubt use over and over again. It shows that, as working people, we are all virtual sponges for learning throughout our lives and deserve to be recognized for the knowledge and skills we acquire at work, at home and at play.
--Leo W. Gerard, International President, United Steelworkers of AmericaThis exciting book will change the debate on knowledge-based production. It demonstrates that the main barrier to 21st century work forms stems from management's continued insistence on control over workers and refusal to rely on worker intelligence and ingenuity. Policy makers and workplace advocates need to read this study!
--Ruth Needleman, Professor of Labor Studies and Women's Studies, Indiana University and Coordinator, Swinshift CollegeLivingstone and Sawchuk explore ethnographically the opportunities, longings and achievements of working-class women and men as adult learners in various contexts, as well as their disjunctures with what is valued by employers. We learn too about related class, gender and race inequalities. This book makes new discoveries and is the beginning of a new direction that will lead to more.
--Dorothy E. Smith, Professor Emeritus, University of TorontoHidden Knowledge concludes that workers are more than someone else's human resources... a much needed counterpoint in a field dominated by a 'human capital' training orthodoxy. In approaching the issues of skills, learning and knowledge by first talking to workers and through workplace case studies, the authors explore both the richness and importance of informal learning.
--Bob White, Past President, Canadian Labour Congress & Canadian Autoworkers