ABSTRACT
Adult education as a body of knowledge, theory, or research can be thought of as multi-paradigmatic or, perhaps even more accurately, as pre-paradigmatic. In Britain, it is much harder to find any kind of consensual agreement as to what activities, concepts, and philosophies comprise any kind of central tradition in adult education. In Britain adult education is much more likely to be seen as the educational arm of some movement for social reform. The pragmatic tenor of American culture is as apparent in the theory and practice of adult education, as it is in other areas, and spending time conceptualizing practice is considered to be unnecessary by many in this field. Empirical analyses of the functioning of adult education systems, or of the manner in which the adult education system contributes to the maintenance of the social whole, are rare in the North American literature.
