Education, Work and Social Capital: Towards a New Conception of Vocational Education. Routledge International Studies in the Philosophy of Education, Number 11.

Overview & Synopsis

This book examines the relationship among education, work, and social capital at the beginning of the 21st century. The following are among the topics discussed in the book's 15 chapters: (1) necessity, work, effort, and leisure; (2) the economic and work-related aims of education, including liberal, vocational, and civic education; (3) the conceptualization of economic life and the consumptionist tradition inherited from Adam Smith and also found in the work of Marx; (4) the conceptualization of economic life and the political economy as discussed by List; (5) moral education and work (with special emphasis on paid employment and the continuing of education through the social demands and relationships arising in the workplace); (6) vocational education and vocational training (the misconception of vocational education as training, differences between training and conditioning, the importance of assessment in vocational education); (7) learning in the workplace; (8) two rival conceptions of vocational education; (9) education and labor markets; (10) education, well-being, and economic growth (vocational education as a process of formation); (11) the social value of work; (12) education and the "end-of-work" thesis; (13) education and work in a social capital perspective; and (14) policy issues related to schooling, qualifications, and the transition to work. (Contains 189 references.) (MN)