Jack Mezirow (sociologist)
Jack Mezirow was a prominent American sociologist and educator, born on March 7, 1923, in Fargo, North Dakota. He made significant contributions to the field of adult education, particularly through his development of the transformative learning theory, which he first articulated in a 1978 article. This theory suggests that adults can reevaluate and change their deeply held beliefs through a process triggered by disorienting dilemmas—situations that challenge their existing worldviews. Mezirow emphasized the importance of personal reflection and the examination of assumptions, advocating for a learning process that encourages individuals to seek and incorporate diverse perspectives.
His work shifted the focus of adult education from merely acquiring skills and information—known as instrumental learning—to understanding how individuals process and internalize knowledge. This comprehensive approach has had a lasting impact on educational practices around the globe, particularly within higher education and occupational training, where it has been utilized to address morally complex decisions faced by professionals, such as healthcare workers. Mezirow's theories continue to influence educational methodologies and foster critical reflection, and his legacy is marked by his insistence on the transformative potential of adult learning experiences. He passed away on September 24, 2014, leaving behind a profound impact on the field of adult education.
Jack Mezirow (sociologist)
Professor of adult education, founder of transformational learning theory
- Born: March 7, 1923
- Birthplace: Fargo, North Dakota
- Died: September 24, 2014
- Place of death: New York, New York
Also known as: John D. Mezirow, Jack D. Mezirow
Education: University of Minnesota, University of California at Los Angeles
Significance: Jack Mezirow was an American sociologist and emeritus professor of adult and continuing education at Teachers College, Columbia University. He is the founder of the transformative learning theory, which educators use to help students come to important conclusions through introspection, independent study, and reflection. Mezirow's theory has been utilized in job training for many fields that require workers to reason quickly and independently.
Background
Jack Mezirow was born on March 7, 1923, in Fargo, North Dakota. He earned both a bachelor's and master's degree in social sciences from the University of Minnesota and a doctorate degree from the University of California at Los Angeles.
After graduation, he worked as a consultant in adult literacy and community development in Asia, Africa, and Latin America for the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the United Nations Educational, Social, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and the US Agency for International Development (USAID). He directed extension programs at the University of California and in 1968 became a professor of adult and continuing education at Teachers College, Columbia University.
Life's Work
Mezirow is best known for his work in adult education. His primary theory, which later became known as transformative learning, can be traced back to an article Mezirow wrote in the Adult Education Quarterly Journal in 1978. In the article, Mezirow asserted that certain situations allowed adults to genuinely re-evaluate their opinions on important issues, allowing them to alter firmly held opinions and consciously grow as a person.
At the time, this assertion was contrary to the opinions of most established researchers. However, as Mezirow developed this theory, it quickly became central to a modern understanding of adult learning. Mezirow developed transformative learning throughout his lifetime, altering and advancing the theory as more advanced research became available.
Mezirow's transformative learning theory has been utilized by institutions of higher education throughout the world. It advocates personal reflection on new information instead of rote memorization. It has also been used in many forms of job training for workers who repeatedly face difficult choices throughout their careers.
According to Mezirow, the first step in transformative learning is a disorienting dilemma in which an adult is faced with a situation that does not fit his or her pre-existing worldview. This causes feelings of stress and anxiety—but in this case, the stress and anxiety are good because they motivate the person to confront the inconsistency.
In the second step of transformative learning, the learner acknowledges the discrepancy between the disorienting dilemma and his or her worldview. The person realizes that the conflicting portion of his or her worldview comes from a series of assumptions about the world. While the learner does not yet question his or her personal views, he or she begins to question the very idea of assumptions. For this reason, the learner begins to seek out the worldviews of others with more experience.
Seeking out the perspectives of more experienced thinkers exposes the learner to a variety of new worldviews. The learner quickly becomes aware of the many assumptions and flaws in his or her personal worldview. Then the learner begins to earnestly question his or her personal beliefs.
From this point, the learner is able to formulate a new worldview that better coincides with the disorienting dilemma. The learner may then choose to embrace this new perspective, adjusting the way he or she views the world. This requires the learner to make different choices in the future, choosing options that coincide with this new perspective. Because altering long-term behavior patterns is difficult, the learner may be unable to make such a decision. Instead, the learner may decide to abandon his or her new perspective.
To become a completely mature individual, the learner must go through the process of transformational learning multiple times. The learner refines his or her perspectives, opinions, and worldviews each time he or she undergoes the process. Through multiple cycles, the learner goes from simple, unexamined opinions based solely on personal experiences to broad, well-examined perspectives based on reasoning and the considered experiences of others. As the learner accepts these newer, more nuanced perspectives, he or she is unable to return to old perspectives. The worldview of the learner is permanently advanced.
Impact
Prior to the development of the transformational learning theory, most adult learning studies were based on instrumental learning, which focuses on how adults gather new skills and information and the process by which this new information might change an adult's opinion. However, instrumental learning assumes that changes in an adult learner's opinion come from the introduction of facts by external sources. Instrumental learning failed to account for the learner's own role in the evolution and alteration of his or her opinions. In contrast, the transformational learning theory not only allows for the introduction of facts by external agents, but also considers how the learner examines, internalizes, and applies that information.
The more complete view of adult learning that Mezirow provided in his theories has been applied in educational institutions throughout the world, most commonly in institutions of higher learning, such as colleges and universities. In these institutions, a strong focus is often placed on both personal reflection and the application of new information. The transformational learning theory has also been used in occupational training to better train workers who routinely face morally complicated or difficult situations. Mezirow's theories have been particularly useful in advancing the training of hospital workers and nurses, who commonly face disorienting dilemmas during their work.
Personal Life
Mezirow was married to Edee Mezirow, who passed away on July 20, 2014, a few months before his death on September 24, 2014. They have a son, Andrew Mezirow, who is a sea captain residing in Seward, Alaska.
Principal Works
Last Gamble on Education (with Gary Darkenwald and Alan Knox), 1975
Fostering Critical Reflection in Adulthood, 1990
Transformative Dimensions of Adult Learning, 1991
Learning as Transformation: Critical Perspective on a Theory in Progress (with associates), 2000
Transformative Learning in Practice (with Edward Taylor), 2009
Bibliography
"Jack Mezirow Publishes Perspective Transformation." Selected Moments of the 20th Century, 2001, http://schugurensky.faculty.asu.edu/moments/1978mezirow.html. Accessed 4 Sept. 2017.
"Mezirow's Ten Phases of Transformative Learning." Transformative Learning, https://sites.google.com/site/transformativelearning/elements-of-the-theory-1. Accessed 4 Sept. 2017.
"Putting Transformative Learning Theory into Practice." Australian Journal of Adult Learning, April 2015, http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1059138.pdf. Accessed September 4, 2017.
"The Transformative Learning Theory: What eLearning Professionals Should Know." eLearning Industry, 2016, https://elearningindustry.com/transformative-learning-theory-what-elearning-professionals-should-know. Accessed 4 Sept. 2017.
"Transformative Education." Academy of Diversity and Inclusive Education, 2012, https://www.ius.edu/diversity/files/transformative-education.pdf. Accessed 4 Sept. 2017.
"Transformative Learning Theory." Taylor Transformative Learning Theory, http://anitacrawley.net/Articles/TaylorTransformative%20Learning%20Theory.pdf. Accessed 4 Sept. 2017.
"Transformative Learning Theory – An Overview." Calpro-Online. https://www.calpro-online.org/eric/docs/taylor/taylor‗02.pdf. Accessed 4 Sept. 2017.
"What Is Transformative Learning?" University of Central Oklahoma, 2012, https://sites.uco.edu/academic-affairs/cettl/cettl-tl/TLGuideFiles/2012-03-tl.pdf. Accessed 4 Sept. 2017.