A Comparison of Human Rights Education in Social Studies Textbooks in Turkey and the United States

Abstract

The aim of this study was to compare the level of allocation of human rights education issues in social studies textbooks in Turkey and the United States. For this aim, six social studies textbooks from both countries were examined. Textbooks were analyzed in terms of their level of human rights education issues, in accordance with Karaman - Kepenekcis (1999) subcategories. A content analysis method was used to analyze the textbooks. As a result, it was observed that human rights education issues were included more in Turkish social studies textbooks. The study showed that Turkish and United States textbooks contained the rights subcategory the most. While the intensity scores of the democracy, freedom, and judgment subcategories were listed the highest in both countries textbooks, on the other hand, the intensity scores of the tolerance and peace subcategories were placed last in the textbooks of both countries.