While No One is Watching: Learning in Social Action Among People who are Excluded from the Labour Market

Abstract

This chapter profiles non-profit community/trade union organizations run by/for marginalized groups. Under the pressures of a turbulent social and economic context, many have evolved a contradictory practice that blends social and economic development. While breaking with earlier traditions of opposition, they have fostered new traditions that operate “while no one is watching” to transform the lives of individuals facing a rough ride in capitalist societies. Informal learning is a significant part of this shift. The authors of this chapter have been involved for many years in community organizations and/or trade unions. Our argument draws on several years of collaborative research done with three such organizations in Montreal and Toronto, Canada. It documents informal learning arising from practice in three areas: learning to participate; learning to re/connect with others; learning a new definition of self. We view these as core features of what Foley (1999) calls “learning in social action.” For us, this phrase references actions ranging from informal conversation to formal collective process. In aligning ourselves with Foley’s work, we are contributing to a stream of literature on informal learning that could be characterized as “learning power and action in resisting communities” (Adams, 1997). It encompasses the learning struggles of women, First Nations and other racial/ethnic minorities, youth and the elderly. As much as possible, we have written this chapter in plain language with words in common use. We did not want the academic use and histories of words to take precedence over their every day meanings. Also, we have organized the presentation of our findings in generic categories. This strategy arose from our discomfort with the ways in which terminology used in previous drafts, term such as “political learning” or “solidarity learning,” required us to reference and position ourselves with respect to academic debates (Church et al. 2000). Against the grain of academic practice, we chose not to privilege the categories derived from our work over the case descriptions that give them life. Thus, while broadly locating ourselves, we have resisted establishing our legitimacy in this way. Our primary focus is on the community organizations we have studied, and how their participants live