Lave and Wenger – 1991 – Legitimate Peripheral Participation

Summary: The chapter describes the development of legitimate peripheral participation, a theory of learning in the context of social practice, that evolved from the concept of situated learning. LPP encompasses three dynamics: legitimacy (belonging to a community of practice), peripheral (multiple ways to be involved in the community, that can/should change as learning is acquired), and participation(the degree of relationship in community membership, which also can/should change as learning is acquired).

Synthesis: asdf

Foundational concepts in this study: social theory, community of practice

Agreement in related work: asdf

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Gaps/Limits in this study: Lave and Wenger don’t engage with how to define “communities of practice” (at least in this chapter) which seems like a serious limitation considering the paper places on the importance of “legitimacy” of the organization and its control of resources.

Connections to my work: social coordination, community of practice, knowledge seeking, sensemaking

Annotated paper:

Lave & Wenger – 1991 – Legitimate Peripheral Participation