Content-type: text/html Downes.ca ~ Stephen's Web ~ The self of self-help books is adrift from social and economic facts

Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community

This article "reminded me of recent edtech 'self determination discourse'", says Gerald Ardito. As it says, "much of the self-help literature on economic and career success is still written in the vein of Carnegie's book, and consequently reads as if one were always a free agent negotiating for (and with) oneself without a social context." It's true that we are largely defined by social and economic facts. But it may also be true that the only way to transcend our social and economic class may be to deny these facts. As the article says, ""When it's time for 'change agents' and revolutionaries to alter the basic social conditions that keep individuals down, a self-help narrative might energise action best."

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