Chapter 2: Human Learning in Social Context

The concept of learning has come to the fore in both educational and policy debates in recent years with the development of the idea of the learning society, and yet education has generally been more concerned with teaching, philosophy with the acquisition of knowledge and sociology with socialisation. But both the acquisition of knowledge and socialisation are forms of learning. Traditionally, psychology regarded the study of learning as its own preserve, although this exclusivity is too restricted to provide a comprehensive understanding of human learning which, since it is a human process, needs to be studied by all the human disciplines. In this paper we will assume certain psychological perspectives while we concentrate on more sociological perspectives.