Scribner, Sylvia. "Literacy in Three Metaphors." American Journal of Ed 93.1: 6-21. 1984

Scribner begins by giving the reader a general definition of what she means by literacy as "Assessing what counts a literacy in the modern epoch in some given social context" (p8). She then goes on to explain that these considerations include societal "value(s), philosoph(ies), and ideolog(ies) similar to those that figure prominently in debates about the purpose and goals of schooling." She further explains that "we may lack consensus on how best to define literacy because we (all) have differing views about literacy's social purposes and values."
Her assumptions are displayed for us as three metaphors. Each metaphor demonstrates an assumption about the societal motivation and practice of literacy in America in a specific culture or time period in history. The metaphors include:

1) Literacy as ADAPTATION
2) Literacy as POWER
and
3) Literacy as a STATE OF GRACE

Metaphor 1 - Literacy as ADAPTATION - Scribner defines functional literacy "only with respect to the proficiencies required for participation in actual life conditions for a particular group or community" (p 10). She chooses points in history as her examples for "adaptive" literacy using a "sliding scale" employed by the US Department of Census. The scale moves from World War I (when a fourth grade education was necessary to function in society) to 1947 when the Census survey moved the expectation to fifth grade. By 1952 the minimum literacy expectation was a sixth grade education. Today's expectations are even much higher with arguments for expected levels of literacy in the future still being fought. Yet the question of what is "functional literacy" still surfaces today. The author points out that some people who are assessed as "functionally literate" actually lack the skills to be adequate parents or workers.

Metaphor 2 - Literacy as POWER - According to Scribner, literacy as POWER emphasizes a relationship between "literacy and group or community advancement ." An example used is how illiteracy in America is concentrated in poor, elderly, and minority groups that do not participate fully in the country's political, economic, and educational institutions."
Metaphor 3 - Literacy as a STATE OF GRACE - This form of literacy is explained by the author as a person's ability to read religious materials and holy books in order to give life "more meaning and significance from intellectual and spiritual participation to knowledge of humankind." Literate people in some cultures are given special respect and "endowed with special virtues". This "state of grace" literacy is different from bookishness. Scribner speaks of literates and illiterates being in different states of grace as well as different stages of intellectual development.
Scribner presents a case study of a West African society of a traditional non literate subsistence farming culture whose script has been passed down in tutorial fashion through the generations, yet at least on third of this group is literate in up to three scripts, and maintain religious and theological learning. Ultimately we must come to understand that the current western style literacy is not necessary for personal survival in all parts of the world. There is no one best answer. The ethnographer needs to understand the history and culture of the group to decide the form and level of literacy needed to function in that society.