How do ex-prisoners social exclusion impact upon access to Learning - Essay Example

How Do Ex- prisoners Social Exclusion Impact Upon Access to Learning Normally, the society’s perception on somebody who has been to prison is different and created an unpleasant environment to the ex-prisoner. The state of social exclusion where an ex-prisoner is excluded administratively from state social protection system is one such an environment (Vincent 2009). Such environments make the ex-prisoner to only believe that power and force enacted on them as a form of instilling discipline are the only rules around them (Gaventa 2003).

Though power is relevant in real life, its effects are felt when the execution is done (Blewett 2005). An ex-prisoner can explain this best based on the experience the person had when behind the bars. Being denied so many privileges could also mean being denied to access learning. When such happens outside the prison circles, the ex-prisoner may take time to connect to the world hence denying the person chances to learn. Learning for an ex-prisoner is important for reconnection to the free world.

Though such involvement has positive consequences for the person and the community, it might be faced by challenges (Portes 1998). One of the major challenges that face this venture is the society unwillingness to protect the ex-prisoner. This sense of social exclusion affects the person’s learning ability even after they are out of prison. According to Blewett (2005), too much power forms a chain of contradiction that isolates the subject hence leading to a form of instability. The instability caused by the power exercised in prison also affects them mentally and socially (Gaventa 2003).

Most of the ex-prisoners find themselves in a state of exclusion where nobody wants to be associated with them. An ex-prisoner may have a desire to learn but the desire may die out of mental instability and the state of exclusion experienced outside prison. Social exclusion has an effect in creating accumulative experience of class oppression. This saturates around the entire social body in that both the ex-prisoner and the people around him feel the exclusion (Lucas 2004). Any efforts to access skills when such saturation has taken place are rendered futile since concentration is not guaranteed.

The person’s feeling of oppression may act negatively towards concentration and willingness to participate in the learning process. Both the team and the ex-prisoner may not be at ease with one another for fear of the unknown.However, the above discussion does not dismiss the fact that access to learning for ex-prisoners may be attainable at certain instances. When several ex-prisoners meet in a learning environment, they may all find themselves interested in the learning process. This is because, they all identify with each other and may be willing to support one another in the initiative having gone through similar situations in the past (Portes 1998).

They may stand on the grounds of they all face social exclusion and while nobody else may understand them, they understand each other. This could give them a social status that they could not get with any other people hence make learning interesting and possible for all of them.ReferencesBlewett, L 2005, ‘Foucault’s Concept of Power in the History of Sexuality (pp. 92-93)’, Lecture notes on Foucault and Power, The Evergreen State College, February 26, 2005.Gaventa, J 2003, ‘Foucault: Power is everywhere’, Powercube, viewed 20 February 2012, < http://www.powercube.net/other-forms-of-power/foucault-power-is-everywhere/ > Lucas, K, 2004 ‘Transport and Social Exclusion’ In Lucas Karen, Running on Empty: Transport, Social Exclusion and Environmental Justice, Policy Press, Clifton, pp. 39-41.Portes, A 1998, ‘Social Capital: Its Origins and Applications in Modern Sociology’, Annu. Rev. Sociol., No. 24, pp. 1-24.Vincent, J 2009, ‘Inclusion: Training to Tackle Social exclusion’, in Brine Alan, Handbook of Library Training Practice and Development, Ashgate Publishing Ltd, London, pp. 123-125.