ABSTRACT
Life experiences constitute the basis for individual and group development. Thus, it is natural to assume that studying life histories would be common in the sociology of education or at least more common than in most other fields of sociology. However, that is not the case (Antikainen, 2003). Our educational sociology research group decided to study the meanings of education in Finnish people’s life just for the reason that the hypothetical social effects of education were known but the meanings of education in individual and group life were largely uncovered subject in empirical research. We formed our research questions by our empowered voice in the following way:
“We are investigating intersubjective social reality by means of a qualitative logic, and not statistical representativeness. We are using a biographical method, namely a life-history approach with a life-story interview and a thematic interview as our methods (Denzin, 1989; Goodson, 1992; Thomas & Znaniecki, 1918-1920). According to our theoretical framework, the meaning of education can be analyzed on three levels, by the following three restricting questions:
(1) How do people use education in constructing their life-courses and life-histories? (2) What do educational and learning experiences mean in the production and
formation of individual and group identity? (3) What sort of significant learning experiences do Finns have in the different
stages of their lives? Do these experiences originate in school, work, adult study or leisure-time pursuits? What is the substance, form and social context of significant learning experiences?”
