EMPOWERMENT AND EMANCIPATION

The concepts of empowerment and emancipation have gained common curren cy in recent years, not just within adult education but also in organi zational management and industrial training. The notion of enabling pe ople to take control of their own lives and to free themselves from th e structures which dominate and constrain them is attractive. But in t he debate about people becoming empowered and freeing themselves from power, there has been an absence of a discussion about the nature of p ower. This paper attempts to clarify the nature of power and the disti nction between individuals being empowered within an existing social s ystem and struggling for freedom by changing the system. In particular , it challenges the notion of freedom and emancipation being attained through personal transformation.