The Confessing Society

"Lifelong learning has become an increasingly important theme in contemporary society through which each citizen is encouraged to become a constant learner. Such narratives are often seen as positive and all-inclusive. In this book, practices of lifelonglearning will be considered as practices of confession. Today, people are constantly encouraged to verbalize themselves to others, whether on TV shows, in newspapers, in family life or together with friends. In The Confessing Society, the authors argue that society has become a confessing society by illustrating how confession operates in the practices of family involvement in school, in-service training, educational guidance, through coaching in the media, etc. Together, such practices shape and govern an active and responsible citizen. The authors, drawing on Foucault's later work on confession and governmentality, carefully analyse how confession operates within practices of lifelong learning as a way to shape activated and responsible citizens. Chapters include: - Reflection and Reflective Practices - Deliberation and Therapeutic Intervention - Lifelong Guidance - Medialised Parenting This book is international in its scope and the argument pursued is related to current debates regarding trans-national policy and to research discussions on education, lifelong learning and governance, and it will provoke lively debate amongst educational practitioners, academics, postgraduate and research students in education and lifelong learning in Europe, North America and Australasia"--

Andreas Fejes is an Associate Professor in Education at the Division for Education and Adult Learning at Linkoping University, Sweden.

Magnus Dahlstedt is an Associate Professor in Ethnic Studies and has an academic background in political science and cultural studies. He is a Senior Lecturer at REMESO, the Institute for Research on Migration, Ethnicity and Society, Linkoping University, Sweden.