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