LEARNING TO LIVE AND WORK TOGETHER: COALITION BUILDING AMONG KOREAN MERCHANTS GROUPS, COMMUNITY RESIDENTS, AND COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS
Open Access
Author:
Youn, ChangGook
Graduate Program:
Adult Education
Degree:
Doctor of Philosophy
Document Type:
Dissertation
Date of Defense:
July 30, 2007
Committee Members:
Ian E Baptiste, Committee Chair/Co-Chair Fred Michael Schied, Committee Member Ronald Ward Jackson, Committee Member Rosa A Eberly, Committee Member
Keywords:
community development coalition building activity theory adult learning community organization
Abstract:
Organizations can be crucial agents for changes of social structures. One of good strategies for social changes through organization is to make relations to other organizations according to their necessity and ideology. In this process, learning may be produced when people participate in this activity. This study is an inquiry into the relationship between coalition buildings between and among community organizations and groups, and learning produced by coalition building activity. To understand this inquiry, I reviewed perspectives on the groups, theories of group relations, perspectives on coalition buildings, and Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) as theoretical frameworks. Using critical ethnography, I conducted research in one community located in a big city in Pennsylvania. Through my research, I was able to find structural features that distinguish groups from community organizations and the challenges and hindrances in coalition buildings among groups and community organizations. Findings of this study support different perspectives on learning that based on CHAT. This study suggests that learning can be considered as the procesural outcomes of human activities,
not the process itself.
