ABSTRACT
It is true to say that the ‘age of empowerment’ (Senge et al., 1999: 11) has become a key rhetoric of the last decades of the twentieth century. Whether in social, political or employment fields, commentators use empowerment in a variety of contexts and with a variety of intentions. Indeed, empowerment is used by so many people, in such a variety of ways, that the term is almost becoming meaningless. Certainly, any serious discussion of the topic needs to define terms and establish the assumptions upon which the commentary is based.
