social studies and the social order
TRANSCRIPT
Social Studies and the Social Order : Transmission or Transformation?
by William Stanley
GERHALD I. VILLASIS
TRANSFORMTRANSMIT
SOCIAL ORDER
STUDENTS
ROLE OF SOCIAL STUDIES
EDUCATORS
TRANSMISSION VS.
TRANSFORMATION
Approach to education that
preserves the social order and,
in turn, perpetuates the status
quo
Approach to education that is
critical of the dominant social order
and motivated by a desire to ensure
political and economic democracy
TRANSMISSION
TRANSFORMATION
SOCIAL ORDER
a set of linked social structures, social
institutions and social practices which
conserve, maintain and enforce "normal" ways
of relating and behaving.
THREE PERSPECTIVES ON EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL
TRANSFORMATION
THE RECONSTRUCTIONIST
CHALLENGETHE GREAT DEPRESSION
RECONSTRUCTION
PROGRESSIVISM
SOCIAL WELFARE
IMPOSITION
INDIVIDUALISM & FREE MARKET THEORY
George Sylvester Counts
CRITIQUE OF
RECONSTRUCTIONISMJohn Dewey SOCIAL ORIENTATION
× IMPOSED DIRECTION AND GOAL
INDOCTRINATION = ANTI-DEMOCRATIC
PRAGMATISM
METHOD OVER OUTCOME
TO REVERSE THE OBJECT OF INDOCTRINATION IS NOT THE ANSWER
BUT ISN’T DEWEY CONTRADICTING HIMSELF BY IMPOSING PRAGMATISM?
CONSERVATISM
CONSERVATIVE CRIITIQUE
FREE MARKET THEORY
INDIVIDUALISM
DEMOCRATIC REALISM
CONSERVATIVE CRITIQUE • Only an educated elite
can acquire social science knowledge required to make public policy decisions
• Anti-democratic according to Dewey
Walter Lippman
CONSERVATIVE CRITIQUE Richard Posner• MODERN SOCIETY IS A FREE-
MARKET ECONOMY
• POLITICIANS SELL THEMSELVES TO VOTERS
• THE KEY ROLE OF TH E PUBLIC IS TO VOTE IN FREE ELECTIONS
• COUNTS: REQUIRES AN UNATTAINABLE LEVEL OF KNOWLEDGE
• DEWEY: PARTICPATORY DEMOCRACY IS ILLUSORY AND UNWORKABLE
CONSERVATIVE CRITIQUE WHAT SHOULD EDUCATORS AND SCHOOLS DO?
Help students understand how our current
democracy actually works, how it might be
improved, and why it is the preferred system
CONCLUSIONSHOULD SOCIAL STUDIES EDUCATORS TRY TO
BUILD A NEW SOCIAL ORDER?
Counts was right: education is never neutral; social orientation addresses social problems
But Dewey was also right: Counts’ advocacy was indoctrinating and anti-democratic
The conservative critique offers a strong case
CONCLUSIONBUT….
Failure to implement participatory democracy is not a reason to abandon it
Dewey’s approach to social education is a helpful middle course