Contemporary Social Education Literature: An Essay Review

Abstract

The present article is an examination of recent social studies literature. The author describes the liberal-progressive roots of social studies education, and argues that the mainstream literature of the field has largely ignored such origins, reflecting instead the sociopolitical climate of the nation. In the 1950s and again in the 1980s, calls for school reform were based upon traditional conceptions of history and standards-based learning grounded in conservative thinking; these shifts toward conservative orientations, however widespread ai the time, are viewed largely as interruptions in the general long term trend toward progressivism in the social studies.