As we argued in Chapter Two, an adequate theory of lifelong learning must take into account social and economic changes over both time and place. In the study that provides the principal empirical basis for the remainder of this book, we focus on one geographical region, which permits the in-depth analysis of changes over time and of the complex interplay of social, cultural and economic factors. This chapter briefly describes the region in question – industrial South Wales – and the long-term restructuring that it has undergone through the 20th century, which is the time period covered by our study.

One of the consequences of this long-term restructuring is the marked differentiation of social and economic conditions between localities within the region. Accordingly, we also describe the three sites in industrial South Wales that provided the focus for the primary data collection for our study. Information from secondary sources, from literature review, and from our key informants provides the basis for these accounts.

It is important to emphasise that in providing these sociographic accounts of the places in which our research has been focused, we are doing more than providing ‘background information’. It is integral to the analytical approach that we have developed (and that we have set out in Chapter Two) that people's decisions as to whether they participate or not in adult education and training are crucially shaped by the opportunities that are available to them; the ways in which they understand those opportunities and their relationships to them; and the resources (individual, familial and community) on which they can draw in accessing these learning opportunities. All of these factors are specific to particular historical epochs and to the places in which people live and work. Therefore, a clear analysis of how the social and economic relations characteristic of localities have changed over time is essential to a proper understanding of the learning trajectories that individuals follow and how their patterns have shifted over the decades too.

It could be argued, of course, that industrial South Wales provides an especially rich geographical context for a study of this kind, given the extent and rapidity of social and economic change that it has experienced over the past century. While this is true, it partly misses the analytical point too.