ABSTRACT
The idea of a learning society assumes that certain types of social arrangements are more likely to promote lifelong learning than others. Yet although the idea of a learning society has been widely and enthusiastically embraced by politicians and educationists, there has been little debate over the precise types of social arrangement that promote communication, reflexivity and mutual learning over time (Ranson, 1994; European Commission, 1995). Specific studies of learning within social institutions such as the family or the workplace have rarely been accompanied by a wider conceptual framework on societal learning.
