Chapter 2: Defining Social Studies

Definitions are significant. Our individual lives and our multiple cultures are intertwined with definitions. Language use requires them; interpretation involves them; judgment depends upon them. Our perspectives, political and educational, are colored by our definitions. Further, our concepts of quality and significance, whether in theory, scholarship, or practice, are based on definitional considerations; some things are valued more than others, depending on definition. Our basic principles—justice, democracy, equality, integrity, loyalty, and honesty—are all dependent upon definition and evolving definition.

Definitional questions are more than esoteric disputes among theoreticians. Knowledge is essentially a set of definitional statements, always under scrutiny and subject to change. Certainly, the body of social studies content consists of definitions from the most trivial to the most significant for individuals and for society. Social studies, itself, is the subject of definition and debate about definition, as are all vital subject fields. The definition of social studies has significant implications for the school curriculum, teacher/classroom practice, the teacher education curriculum, and the forms of research valued in the field. These are solid grounds for examining again the definitions of social studies, and presuming that this examination will not be the last. Redefining, of course, honors previous efforts at definition; it suggests an evolution, with debate as an avenue for improvement.