“You Don’t Have to Tell Them It’s a Lie”: Teaching Social Studies within a Backsliding Democracy

In this essay, the authors posit that democratic backsliding, rather than partisanship, is the prevailing political situation in which civics and social studies teachers are working. The authors then present evidence from focus groups composed of practicing social studies teachers from across the United States to illustrate how the reliance on evidence and argumentation is the primary mode of navigating contemporary political issues. However, while these strategies are built on decades of research in civic education, the authors illustrate a conceptual dilemma: Inquiry strategies may not be able to accommodate the realities of democratic backsliding and its attendant misinformation. The authors propose that reframing inquiries in terms of pro- or anti-democratic stances rather than more traditional liberal-versus-conservative framings could be a potential way forward.