The Prison Beyond the Prison: Learning Warfare and Educational Control over Civil Society

Abstract

The study analyses the ways in which adult learning initiatives are part of new models of warfare and how these develop through social media. The analysis of the new doctrines of hybrid warfare and cognitive warfare identifies learning warfare as the strategic component that aims to direct adult learning processes through various aggressive, informative and persuasive devices. The analysis of learning warfare considers the educational strategies adopted to utilise the digital world and particularly social media. Attention is directed towards the possibilities of implementing protection and defence strategies through a conscious management of the learning processes that develop in the relationship between consumer audiences and digital educational objects. Consumers can fully exercise their role as prosumers if appropriate educational strategies are put in place. The study attempts to identify various possibilities for action starting from the educational practices already in place, in particular, in the world of adult learning. It concludes with a focus on civic engagement initiatives and digital media consumer communities.