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A History of Vocation: Tracing a Keyword of Work, Meaning, and Moral Purpose

This article traces the historical shifts in usage of the term vocation as a significant keyword wherein a range of different connotations and assumptions about the nature of work and the relationship between the domain of work and the practice of adult education are negotiated and contested. The aim of this article is to establish a wider backdrop against which contemporary understandings of vocation and work as they related to the field of adult education can be considered. By charting the major historical shifts in the usage of this term, this article explores some of the contrasting narratives of work as a source of meaning still carried by the term in contemporary usage.