Teaching Social Studies as Edgework

Abstract

This research draws on the sociological theory of edgework to investigate the affective motivations/rewards and prepared skills of social studies teachers who take extreme risks in their teaching. Although most theoretical explanations of teacher decision-making emphasize professional motivations and risk reduction, edgework highlights the salience of affective rewards in choosing to take extreme risks, as seen previously by other studies of edgeworkers who participate in extreme sports, crime, drug use, and other high-risk activities. Interviews were conducted with foreign social studies teachers at Chinese international schools. As edgeworkers, three teachers in this study took extreme risks of their own volition. They felt self-actualized from their perception that they retained the ability to think for themselves in an authoritarian state, and they felt valued as providers of a critical and global orientation of social studies for Chinese students. To take risks successfully and not cross “the edge” of safety/unsafety, teachers developed an expert set of skills but also chose restraint when conditions appeared uncertain or uncontrollable. This study is significant for introducing educational scholarship to edgework and demonstrating its utility in analyzing the affective motivations/rewards and skill preparation of social studies teachers who take extreme risks.