Institutionalizing Up-and-Down Collaboration for Popular Education in Labor Movements: Beyond Top-Down Versus Bottom-Up Dichotomy

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Thursday 9:50 am Four Seasons Ballroom 1
  In Roundtable Session: Adult Learners: Policy and Practice (Table 2)

Abstract

This study analyzes the organizational strategies by which the Korean labor movement embodies popular education at the grassroots level, moving beyond the dichotomy of bureaucratic top-down and spontaneous bottom-up approaches. The specific case examined is the Grassroots Learning Program (GLP) in the Korean Public Service and Transportation Workers’ Union (KPTU), a political education program where workers educate their fellow workers. Through a year-long ethnography, I explore how the KPTU succeeded in spreading the GLP to engage rank-and-file workers in educational activities, with a focus on organizational strategies. My research argues that collaborative endeavors between central leadership, regional headquarters, and local unions are necessary to embody popular education in social movements, rather than relying solely on top-down or bottom-up approaches.

Author

• Jaeung Kim, Pennsylvania State University