Deconstructing Discourse: A Critical Analysis of the Reproduction of Structural Oppression within High School Social Studies and Sociology

My study is a critical analysis of the reproduction of structural oppression within contemporary high school Social Studies and Sociology. The purpose of my critical analysis was to identify whether or not classroom content within Social Studies and Sociology reproduced various modes of oppression through the process of covert and overt discriminatory practices. The significance of my study is reflective of the growing diverse student population to which represents intersecting social identities that may fall victim to multiple modes of discrimination and oppression. My study is theoretically informed by Eduardo Bonilla-Silva’s Color-Blind Racism (CBR), Gloria Ladson-Billings Critical Race Theory (CRT), Kimberle Williams-Crenshaw’s Intersectionality, and Herbert Blumer’s theoretical concept of Symbolic Interactionism. Utilizing a mix methods approach of quantitative content analysis and qualitative discourse analysis, I conducted a comparative study in which I examined (2) Social Studies U.S. History Classes and (1) Sociology Class, all three from high schools within the City of San Diego. To answer my research question, “does high school coursework within Social Studies and Sociology challenge or reproduce conditions of inequality?”, I coded a combined total of 2,124 documents representing curriculum, textbooks, daily assignments, PowerPoint presentations and visual images. From my quantitative and qualitative analysis of classroom content I was able to identify numerous examples of how current Social Studies and Sociology reproduce multiple modes of oppression, through the construction of heteronormativity, colorblind racist and overt racist ideology, and the practice of exclusion. My study is just a small glimpse of the reproduction of white eurocentric colonialism that without a critical lens operates covertly, maintaining power and privileges for heteronormative men while reproducing various modes of oppression for marginalized groups.