ABSTRACT
Mis-recognition is an aspect of social control that attaches different values to the activities of class fractions in non-formal settings. It can occur through ascribing social characteristics as natural properties of individuals. It can occur through devaluing class forms of active citizenship as ‘abject’. It might also result from over-recognizing the outcomes of non-formal learning in individualized and moralized ways. In this critical analysis of policy the author draws on research conducted whilst employed at the Centre for Research on the Wider Benefits of Learning. He concludes that if lifelong learning is to be part of wider redistributive struggles it needs to reconnect with its radical traditions.
