On older learners’ naïveté: an examination of the emancipatory function of critical older adult education

ABSTRACT Many critical educational philosophies assume that learners are naïve and unable to critically read their social reality. Critical educational gerontology (CEG) aims to emancipate learners from oppression, to which they are oblivious. This strand of older adult education charges teachers with the task of raising learners’ naïve consciousness, by leading them on the (Freirean) path of critical reflection and critical action. Literature employing CEG concludes that this path often ends with learners being reluctant to engage in critical action because of their ongoing (internalised) oppression. In this paper, we adopt a critical stance towards CEG’s logic of emancipation guided by Anthony Giddens’ structuration theory. As such, we question the inability of older learners to understand, and act on, their social reality independently from teachers. Starting from Giddens’ theory, we apply a reflexive thematic analysis to interview data tackling the socio-economic reality of 11 older learners at a university for the third age in Lebanon. The results support the conclusion that older learners at the U3A can decode their social reality and reflexively engage in social change, but their efforts or reluctance are influenced by constraints, not necessarily naïve consciousness. Consequently, we recommend a revisit of CEG’s logic of emancipation.