Political Neutrality as Ideal, Right-wing Pedagogy in Practice: Hegemony and Civic Learning Opportunities in Predominantly White Schools

Abstract

While schools are necessary spaces for democratic education, more analyses are needed that unpack their limits. Drawing from ethnographic research in U.S. Government classrooms in two predominantly White schools in politically conservative communities in central Ohio, findings show that teachers and students idealize a politically neutral pedagogy, yet in practice, teachers engage in discursive and pedagogical moves that reify right-wing politics in implicit and explicit ways. Ideas that deviate from “neutrality”—those deemed “racial” or left-leaning—are viewed as “political” and avoided. Drawing on the concept of hegemonic power and situating this amidst conversations of the White normative trappings of civic and social studies education, this paper offers insights into the political ideologies and pedagogical choices that shape right-wing civic learning opportunities in politically and racially homogenous schools.