Elementary Social Studies Textbooks and Legitimating Knowledge

Abstract

Several critics have suggested that elementary social studies texts present a naive image of society by not including information on political or other social conflict, and by presenting students with an overly positive view of the benevolence and accountability of political authority. One explanation for the unrealistic information chosen for students in their elementary social studies texts is that it represents what Silberman and Shaver have called educator “mindlessness” or inattention to critical thought. The present paper attempts to counter this type of explanation by discussing the possible social meanings of social studies knowledge. It is argued that a major social function of the information in social studies textbooks is to provide formal justification for and legitimation of ongoing institutional practices.