The Social Studies Education Discourse Community on Globalization: Exploring the Agenda of Preparing Citizens for the Global Age

Abstract

The scholarship nexus between education and globalization provides limited insights into how global education has been framed and rendered. The purpose of this article is twofold. First, it seeks a better understanding of the nature of the mission of preparing citizens for the global age and what it entails in the context of learning and teaching social studies in the United States. Second, it aims at describing and characterizing the discourse community of social studies education as it relates to educating about and for globalization. Specifically, this article asks: What educational proposals are suggested in this discourse to prepare the students to meet the demands of globalization? What perspectives, skills, and values are emphasized? And what we can learn from this discourse’s selectivity of content and emphasis? All in all, the article reveals the enclosure of global education within the language and practices of multicultural education.