Making Sense of the Learning Turn: Why and In What Sense Toys, Organizations, Economies, and Cities are "Learning"

From "learning toy" and "learning society" to "learning city" and "learning organization", what is meant by "learning"? The main focus of this volume is to increase our understanding of the "learning turn" referring, in this book, to the frequent occurrence and usage of terms in the last few decades where the word "learning" is the premodifier. The authors also offer insights into the use of the word "learning" as a premodifier in the future and discuss what, if anything, may replace it, such as "knowledge" (as in "knowledge management") and "smart" (as in "smart city"). An extensive range of academic disciplines are covered including political science, economics, human geography, philosophy, linguistics, higher education, working life science, management and organization, and marketing. While a single, overall, unified conclusion is not provided, Making Sense of the Learning Turn presents a variety of voices and perspectives. Some contributors are critical towards the learning turn, explaining it in terms of fashion-following, manipulation, and seduction. Others interpret the learning turn more lightly or suggest a more collective form of learning as an alternative to the individualization of learning that some authors argue has been the case thus far.

About the Author

Anders Örtenblad is Professor of Working Life Science at the University of Agder, Norway. With his keen interest in learning and education, as both phenomena and concepts, he has extensively researched and authored on the idea of the learning organization, organizational learning, and management education. He has edited numerous books and journals, including The Oxford Handbook of the Learning Organization (OUP, 2019) and The Oxford Handbook of Metaphor in Organization Studies (OUP, 2024). He is a keen advocate of research as open, academic debate.