The methodology of Paul Willis. A review of "Learning to Labor: How Working Class Kids get Working Class Jobs"

Abstract

This article explores some basic features of the methodology used by Paul E. Willis in his great work "Learning to Labour" from 1976. Through a backward approximation from the presentational form the article tries to comprehend the consistency of Willis? analytical and conceptual apparatus applied in his research process. This is done partly on basis of the explication of the concept self, and the special explanatory typology in which this concept is employed, and partly through the two concepts penetration and limitation. The conclusion at which this article arrives is that Willis? investigation is a development of the Marxian principles of dialectics in a cultural setting.