Participation and non-participation
These notes are part of a series for the book.
Outline
- Identities of non-participation
- Sources of participation and non-participation
- Institutional non-participation
- Non-participation as institutional relation
- Non-participation as practice
Notes
‘Learning is a matter of social energy and power’ (from the 13 principles defining learning, Wenger, 1998, p. 227).
Our identity is made of what we are and what we are not. We can’t participate in every COP. There are four ways to define participation:
- Full participation (as an insider)
- Peripherality: On the periphery you have some participation, which also means you don’t have full participation. For example, if you are a newcomer, non-participation allows you to learn, and thus participation is enabled by non-participation.
- Marginality: This is being prevented from full participation. For example, women may be members of a COP, but marginality forces them in a non-participatory role. Participation is restricted and this can lead to non-membership or a marginal position.
- Full non-participation (as an outsider)
Participation and non-participation involve social relations:
- Inside the COP, there may be members who either set themselves aside or members who are placed in marginal positions by the group.
- It may be a defining characteristic of the COP. When the COP is an “us versus them” group (such as workers versus managers, for example), then the boundary crossing is difficult.
- It may be affected by the COP’s relative relations within the constellation or company hierarchy.
A company can mediate boundaries and non-participation with things like status and salary, and by standardizing work with reifications and not encouraging initiative. These things result in marginalization, and the marginalization can become a characteristic of the COP, affecting members as they try to rectify it with their identity — and to do so, they turn non-participation into a:
- Compromise: ‘If you don’t invest in me, I won’t invest in you’ (Wenger, 1998, p. 170)
- Strategy: ‘I don’t want my job to be my whole life’ (Wenger, 1998, p. 170)
- Cover (especially, protection from moral issues and conflicting feelings): ‘I just work here’ (Wenger, 1998, p. 170)
The modes of belonging (engagement, imagination, and alignment) give a community a way to have participation and non-participation, to support learning.