Sociology can be a potent tool for the emancipatory youth worker Essay

Sociology can be a potent tool for the emancipatory youth worker prove - Essay ExampleIt is never localized here or there, never in anybodys hands, never appropriated as a commodity or piece f wealth (1980a, p. 98).Although discourse and practice pre-exist us, we learn to harness them to our own end. The notion f force-out being located in spite of appearance rules and regulations which are continually adopt and transformed by individual agents is central to Giddens structuration theory f actor (1984,p. 14). Foucault is known for his work analyzing changes in the discourse and practice f discipline and punishment, oddly in relation to education (1977a) but, with the exception f Dwyers (1995) study f post-compulsory education in Australia, his theories have not had any major impact in adult education (Westwood, 1992).To understand the notion f empowerment and emancipation, we must begin with an abbreviation f power. This leads immediately to a fundamental problem If power dicta tes or produces truth, how do we recognize true statements about power More fundamentally, is truth possible beyond power We may believe, with Habermas, that there is a commonwealth f truth which exists beyond power and which is central to authentic human being, communication, and voluntary social order. Habermas (1984) argues that the orientation to reaching understanding is a universal blow f human communication which is central to overcoming self-interest and the domination f economic and political power in our lives (p. 286). This is also the fundamental assumption underlying Mezirows (1994 1995) theory f adult learning. Foucault, however, insists that there is no truth without power (1980a, p. 131). It is in and through power that what is known, what is said, what is taken for granted, and what is regarded as the truth are constituted. The tensions surrounded by these two positions are central to the following discussion. It is argued that for people to become emancipated it is important first to be able to distinguish social action derivation from power as opposed to, for example, love and affection. It is also important to distinguish different types f power. This is something which is missing in Mezirows work. Within a Habermasian framework, understanding how power works is crucial if people are to prevent the colonization and technization f the lifeworld by power and money and develop a society based on free, undistorted communication (Habermas, 1987, p. 183). It is argued here, that for emancipatory learning to reach its full potential, there is a need to go beyond an analytical realist typology f power to a Foucauldian structuralist analysis which helps people understand how they are limited and controlled by discourses and practices (Honneth, 1993 Kelly, 1994). The central tenet f this paper is that empowerment involves people developing capacities to act successfully within the existing system and structures f power, while emancipation concern s critically analyzing, resisting and challenging structures f power. The first section begins with an analysis f empowerment. Empowerment used to be associated with a wide variety f radical social movements (Bookman, 1988 Davis, 1988 Hanks, 1987 Inglis, 1994 Kieffer, 1984 OSullivan, 1993 Solomon, 1976 Villerreal, 1988). In more recent years, however, it has been appropriated by organizational