An Examination of Social-learning Outcomes in Three Entrepreneurial Chesapeake Bay Watermen Communities.

摘要

Since the enactment of the Magnuson-Stevenson Fisheries Act in 1976, this federal law has expanded to regulate what was once a common shared resource of U.S. commercial fishing communities. A fisheries management method used in recent years has forced a large percentage of commercial fishermen from their traditional livelihoods through state and federal regulations. This action requires other agencies to manage the aftermath of dislocated families and job loss. Evidence shows that many commercial fishermen are unable to adapt to these regulatory changes, even if they have the explicit knowledge, skills, and abilities to do so. The conceptual framework for this work is based on studies that describe the drivers and outcomes of a social learning process for commercial fishermen. While this is true, no one study has focused exclusively on social learning outcomes. This case study used a purposeful sampling of multiple data types from archival, artifactual, and participant sources to examine the phenomena of social-learning and its effects on the learning outcomes of self-efficacy, self-concept and self-worth within three Chesapeake Bay watermen communities. A multiple technique approach that utilized aspects of phenomenology from an etic perspective, aspects of ethnography from a emic perspective and aspects of a case study from a historical perspective within constant comparative analytical model was employed. What was discovered from this approach was a unique culture, which had embedded within it a social learning process that resulted in both tacit and explicit learning outcomes, which were intertwined to such an extent they could not be separated. By using the knowledge developed, learning managers will have the ability to develop differentiated instruction to meet the specific learning needs of watermen, which can mitigate the adverse effects of regulations.