Impressions of the Democratic Ideals of Justice and Equality in U.S. History Textbooks: The Treatment of Japanese-Americans During World War II?

Abstract

Utilizing the work of Habermas, this study examines through a qualitative content analysis five “best selling” secondary American history textbooks to determine how textbooks construct various impressions regarding the democratic ideals of justice and equality. The content area examined was the internment of the Japanese during World War II. The theoretical framework is Habermas’s theory of knowledge-constitutive-interests. Habermas’s technical interest and instrumental rationality is evoked in order to determine how the technical discourse of textbooks divorces significant moral issues of justice and equality and how this in turn creates impression that students have an opportunity to learn. Findings conclude that most textbooks present knowledge in a technical manner, excluding important information and divorcing significant moral issues. In turn, technical knowledge is ideological and serves the purpose of supporting particular interests by justifying the text’s positions. Responses are made that suggests teachers move beyond the technical interests and take up Habermas’s emancipatory interest that emphasizes critical reflection.

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