Centering Marxist-Feminist Theory in Adult Learning

Abstract

Using feminist extensions of Marxist theory, this article argues that a Marxist-feminist theory of adult learning offers a significant contribution to feminist pedagogical debates concerning the nature of experience and learning. From this theoretical perspective, the individual and the social are understood to exist in a mutually determining relationship, with a social world conceptualized as active human practice. The primary theoretical task is then to rearticulate the central relations of adult learning theory (the individual, the social, and experience), which necessitates a dialectical formation of social difference and oppression. This allows for an examination of the reification of experience as a core relation of adult learning theory and a reimagining of feminist praxis.