"I highly appreciate the quality of Fejes' and Dahlstedt's research and writing. They manage to present in a comprehensible way some essential concepts of Foucault that help us to understand better what practices of lifelong learning, in a broad sense, are emerging nowadays in advanced liberal societies. In doing so, they contribute to the renewal of critical thinking in education. They convince me that such renewal is important and necessary... and I think both theoreticians and practitioners of lifelong learning will equally recognize and value this analysis, particularly also, because they present a good mix of theory and practice." -Professor Danny Wildemeersch

Today, people are constantly encouraged to verbalise and disclose their "true" inner self to others, whether on TV shows, in newspapers, in family life or together with friends. Such encouragement to disclose the self has proliferated through discourses on lifelong learning through which each citizen is encouraged to become a constant learner. The Confessing Society takes a critical stance towards the modern relentless will to disclose the self and argues that society has become a confessing society. Drawing on Foucault's later work on confession and governmentality, this book carefully analyses how confession operates within practices of lifelong learning as a way to shape activated and responsible citizens and provides examples of how it might be possible to traverse the confessional truth of the present time. Chapters include:

• Reflection and Reflective Practices
• Deliberation and Therapeutic Intervention
• Lifelong Guidance
• Medialised Parenting

This controversial book is international in its scope and pursues current debates regarding trans-national policy and to research discussions on education, lifelong learning and governance, and it will provoke lively debate amongst educational practitioners, academics, postgraduate and research students in education and lifelong learning in Europe, North America and Australasia.

About the Author
Andreas Fejes is an Associate Professor in Education at the Division for Education and Adult Learning at Linkoeping University, Sweden. Magnus Dahlstedt is an Associate Professor in Ethnic Studies and has an academic background in political science and cultural studies. He is a Senior Lecturer at REMESO, the Institute for Research on Migration, Ethnicity and Society, Linkoeping University, Sweden.

Reviews

"Adult education students, and practitioners in the field, would benefit enormously from reading such a clear exposition of Foucault's ideas, and i shall certainly be using it in my own postgraduate seminars." - Stephen Brookfield, University of St. Thomas, Studies in the Education of Adults, Spring 2013

"I really enjoyed the book. It is definitely a timely contribution to the field of adult learning and education. First, the analysis of various lifelong learning practices through the lens of confession is compelling. Second, the use of different empirical material promoting multiple rather than uniform readings is inspiring. Third, the emerging picture of how learning has become a vital part of the various examined sites is valuable. Fourth, the finding of how several practices, spread from formal to informal, in fact seem to consolidate what appears to be a hegemonic, unquestionable truth is important."- Liselott Aarsand, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, European Journal for Research on the Education and Learning of Adults, January 2014

"The readers of this review have probably by now noticed that I appreciate the quality of Fejes' and Dahlsted's research and writing highly. They manage to present in a comprehensible way some essential concepts of Foucault that help us to understand better what practices of lifelong learning, in a broad sense, are emerging nowadays in advanced liberal societies. In doing so, they contribute to the renewal of critical thinking in education."- Danny Wildemeersch, University of Leuven, International Journal of Lifelong Learning, January 2014

"An interesting and well- written book which uses Foucault- type analyses to disturb and deconstruct things which are taken for granted today."- David A.L.Coldwell, University of the Witwatersrand, International Review of Education

Book Information
ISBN 9780415660372
Author Andreas Fejes
Format Paperback
Page Count 130
Imprint Routledge
Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
Weight(grams) 204g