The Sociology of Social Studies

In this second installment of our Cultural Transmission series, we take a look at "Social Studies": what is that section on standardized tests? Why does nobody know what it is? Well, partially because the people who came up with it weren't interested in telling us precisely what it meant. Today we'll dig a little bit into the history of social studies, and why its origins are a bit insidious as well as ambiguous.

This Episode Features: Social Studies; The Rat Dies; Isaac Asimov; Oculus Reparo; Cata-What-Now; McGuffey's Readers; Storytelling And Mysticism; and Bryan Is A History Teacher He Just Doesn't Get Paid For It.

Transcript: https://bit.ly/3tZP3kg-htz-65

Links:

The Social Studies Curriculum - E. Wayne Ross: https://amzn.to/3wcNJMO

Montana Standards for Social Studies: https://bit.ly/39rKbwB

"Patterns" - Simon and Garfunkel: https://youtu.be/ynOiwRy8YQc

Foundation - Isaac Asimov: https://amzn.to/3dgd8wL

"The Year 2000 and All That" - Robert A. Nesbit, Commentary Magazine: https://bit.ly/3u5QCNE

Person of Interest (2011-2016): https://amzn.to/39oZKVT

The Principia - Sir Isaac Newton: https://amzn.to/3wa7epv

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - J.K. Rowling: https://amzn.to/2P9cKIr

Westminster Shorter Catechism: https://www.opc.org/sc.html

Anne of Green Gables - Lucy Maud Montgomery: https://amzn.to/3foHNKR

McGuffey's Eclectic Readers - William Holmes McGuffey: https://amzn.to/3fm4oI0

" 'Old Gruff' and His Readers" - Kate Uttinger, Leben Magazine: https://leben.us/old-gruff-readers/

"The Social Studies in Secondary Education" - Bureau of Education: https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED542444

"Social Studies in the Hampton Curriculum" - Thomas Jesse Jones, The Southern Workman: https://bit.ly/3rCTvE6

"Origins of the Modern Social Studies, 1900-1916" - Michael Lybarger, History of Education Quarterly: https://www.jstor.org/stable/368079?seq=1

On the Origin of Species - Charles Darwin: https://amzn.to/3sM10d6

The Descent of Man - Charles Darwin: https://amzn.to/3sD5Kli

Rubicon - Tom Holland: https://amzn.to/3cD14ql

Christianity and Liberalism - J. Gresham Machen: https://amzn.to/2PloxDg

"An Unusual Prince/Once Upon a Dream" - Sleeping Beauty (1959): https://youtu.be/TXbHShUnwxY

Recos:

Cheese Curds

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl, and Sir Orfeo - Tr. J.R.R. Tolkien: https://amzn.to/31yCGzq

Foundation - Isaac Asimov: https://amzn.to/3dgd8wL