Literacy is a social process. Each person constructs his or her own "literate identity" and each community constructs its own "literate culture." At times, this local and individual process is at odds with literacy development on a large scale, undertaken through social intervention. Such social intervention is counter-social in that by trying to…

Social construction of knowledge by the holders of power traditionally devalues women. Discussion of female identity and role is conducted in terms of male-female power relations. To change social reality, the lives of illiterate and semiliterate women must be transformed. (SK)

This paper presents a conceptualization that interprets the processes of policymaking, institution building, and change planning as aspects of the same generic phenomenon of cultural action. Central to this conceptualization is a view of power that explains the dynamics of these related processes while it demonstrates their integral unity. The…

A Mega Model of Planned Change in education and social development is presented. The Mega Model consists of eight elemental models, which systematically deal with various aspects of complex change processes. Characteristics and applications of the CLER elemental model (configurational relationships, linkages, environments, resources), the basic…

Accounts differ as to the state of adult literacy education in China. One scholar says that programs are contracting severely, whereas Chinese officials contend that programs are operating with more students and more efficiency. A true picture of literacy education in China depends on research and statistics that are being gathered. The overall…

Mass literacy, largely the product of the nineteenth century European industrial revolution, may be considered in three facets. First, its sociology: human relationships are different when individuals can refer to permanent, written records than when they rely on a person-to-person transferral of information. Literacy also makes possible more…

Those involved in mass media and adult education in the Third World, including researchers in education, communication, and instructional technology, operators of mass media programs, and national policy makers, should regard themselves as change agents. In order to function effectively as such they must understand the methodological aspects of…