ABSTRACT
This book has endeavoured to analyse the emergence of lifelong learning and the learning society. It has sought to show that lifelong learning and the learning society that we currently have are to a great extent the creation of advanced capitalism. But the sub-structural forces are not the only causes of this situation; the argument being presented here is not a determinist one and we have argued that there are international, national and regional forces seeking to modify these sub-structural forces, as policies have been formulated at the different political levels. Indeed, these policies have endeavoured to broaden the concerns of lifelong learning and the learning society; they have added citizenship, social inclusion and personal fulfilment to the aim of employability demanded by the core. Nevertheless, the dominant driving force behind this type of society has been, and still is, advanced capitalism – this is the driving force of globalisation.
