Content Analysis of the Political Socialization Components in Secondary-School-Textbooks: Case Study of revisited textbooks of Sociology

The purpose of this study is to investigate the components of political socialization have been represented through the school-textbooks in Iran. In terms of research data and method, the research results presented and discussed in this paper are based on the method of content analysis on the revisited textbooks of Sociology in the high-school level. Using William Scott's method, the components of political socialization have been measured by the representation of major terms including republicanism, tolerance, political legitimacy, political identity, critical pedagogy, social justice, political values of the Islamic revolution, economics, and good governance. According to the research findings of this analysis, three main patterns can be addressed: First, the most visible components of political socialization represented in the textbooks are the religious-political identity and political values of the Islamic Revolution, which have been inspired through the otherness and ideological critique of the Western political identities. Second, the textbooks are overwhelmingly allocated to represent the political and ideological elements of the Islamic Revolution of Iran; an approach which have neglected the elements of good governance and republicanism. Finally, the underlying conclusion of these research findings refers to the fact that the political values of the Islamic Revolution have been more significantly represented in the textbooks that its social and economic values.