ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author locates adult education within its structural context in society. He argues for the validity and significance of adult education's role in the struggle for socialism. The theoretical position that he have adopted in seeking to develop a socialist approach to adult education is that of Marxism. The Marxist approach to adult education argues that it must be analysed within its economic and political context. Marxist theory and post-1917 historical practice suggest that socialist society has a number of defining characteristics at the economic, political and cultural levels. An important feature of historical experience is that socialism has not occurred in advanced capitalist social formations but in economically backward ones. The process of socialisation is directed towards a steady elimination of private property in the means of production and therefore the termination of the economic basis of the capitalist class structure. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
