African Educational Research Journal - Full Length Research Paper - An overview of textbooks in the context of critical pedagogy: Poverty, unemployment and homelessness

Oct 15, 2026

The paper evaluates the role of secondary school social studies textbooks in addressing poverty, unemployment, and homelessness through a critical pedagogy framework. Textbooks prepared by private publishers in Turkey are analyzed using a qualitative approach and structured document analysis. Findings indicate that depictions include colonial-era massacres and enslavement, poor labor under harsh conditions, and child labor tied to the industrial revolution. Poverty, homelessness, and unemployment also appear linked to natural events, migration, terrorism, and wars, while African-origin people and refugees are portrayed as poor. The study highlights textbook value for illuminating disadvantaged situations and identifies gaps through micro-, mezzo-, and macro-level analysis.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages20

Reading Time50 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Poverty as a multifaceted problem

Role of social studies education

Abstract

Study premise and framework

Method and findings

African Educational Research Journal Vol. 12(4), pp. 300-319, November 2024 DOI: 10. 30918/AERJ.124.24.059 ISSN: 2354-2160 Full Length Research Paper An overview of textbooks in the context of critical pedagogy: Poverty, unemployment and homelessness Latif Gökalp1* and Halime Ünaldı Gökalp2 1Department of Property Protection and Security, Şefaatli Vocational School, Yozgat Bozok University, Yozgat, Türkiye. 2Department of Sociology, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Adıyaman University, Adıyaman, Türkiye. Accepted 18 November, 2024 | ABSTRACT
In today's world, it is a fact that some people want the poor to be helped and some people want poverty tobe eliminated. One way to narrow the gap between these two situations is to know what children need. The premise of this study is to evaluate the role of secondary school social studies textbooks in addressing poverty, unemployment and homelessness within the framework of critical pedagogy. In this context, secondary school social studies textbooks prepared by private publishers in Turkey were analysed. In the study, qualitative research method was used and structured approaches to document analyses were applied. As a result of the study, it is seen that the massacres and enslavement of indigenous people in the lands discovered by Europeans with geographical discoveries and colonial activities, and the labour of poor people in unfavourable conditions and the situation of child labourers with the industrial revolution are depicted. Again, it is observed that poverty, homelessness and unemployment come to the forefront due to various natural events, migration, terrorism and wars, and African origin and refugees are depicted as poor. The study reveals the importance of social studies textbooks in terms of illuminating disadvantaged situations, provides a different perspective in the context of critical pedagogy through micro, mezzo and macro analysis of functional definitions, and presents the points that are insufficient in addressing the definitions in question.
Keywords: Poverty, homelessness, unemployment, textbooks, social studies, critical pedagogy. | | --- | | *Corresponding author. Email: [latif.gokalp@yobu. edu.tr. Tel:](latif.gokalp@yobu. edu.tr. Tel:) 0507 274 41 52. | INTRODUCTION It can be stated that poverty is not only a problem of the 21st century or underdeveloped countries or societies but also a multifaceted problem with various dimensions such as economic, cultural, legal, political and ethnic, affecting societies that are considered developed and have a long history. In this context, among the Sustainable Development Goals set by the United Nations, "Eliminating all forms of poverty everywhere" isan issue that many countries and organisations pay attention to (Tollefson, 2015) . It can be said that humanity has/can resort to many actions to eliminate poverty. These actions can be listed as follows: (1) Meeting the basic needs of the poor, reducing hunger and malnutrition, as well as ensuring food security, education and primary health care, safe drinking water and sanitation; (2) Providing more people with employment and preventing unemployment; (3) Promoting both the gender balance and equality indecision-making processes at all levels; (4) Expanding women's independence and empowerment by providing them with political and economic as well as social and cultural opportunities (Agola and Avange, 2014) . In addition to factors such as individuals' lack of skills and abilities and lack of effort, poor money management leads to poverty and has multidimensional causes. It has been found that the unconscious use and subsequent degradation of land increases rural poverty (Liu and Wang, 2019) . Many situations cause poverty, ranging from diseases, unwanted events and even lack of opportunities to unfavourable and unpredictable conditions (Halman and Van Oorschot, 1999; Shek, 2004; Davids and Gouws, 2013) . From a macro perspective, Myrdal (1970)

FAQs

What is the main purpose of the study?

To evaluate how secondary school social studies textbooks address poverty, unemployment, and homelessness within critical pedagogy.

What method is used to analyze the textbooks?

A qualitative research method with structured approaches to document analysis.

What kinds of depictions are highlighted in the textbook analysis?

The study notes depictions related to colonial massacres and enslavement, harsh labor of poor people, child labor linked to the industrial revolution, and poverty connected to migration, wars, and other events.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by eBook King