Not a Battle Worth Fighting: Reproducing Nationalism in Schools through Pledge of Allegiance Mandates

• In Event: Sociology of Education Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 25. Role of Political Forces in Education

Abstract

Most children in the United States go to school in states that require regular administration of the Pledge of Allegiance, a patriotic oath of loyalty. Everyday rituals, like recitation of the pledge, reproduce the beliefs and habits necessary for sustaining American nationalism. Little research has been done on the requirements that pledge laws impose and how teachers make sense of these requirements. Through textual analysis of all 47 state laws, I find that the laws do not establish a clear role for teachers in administering the pledge, despite the norm that the pledge happens in their classrooms. I use 34 interviews with Iowa teachers to understand how they make sense of this ambiguous position. I find that the legal and organizational environment suppresses legal confidence and overwhelms teachers, inhibiting their ability to resist the mandates. This research shows how an everyday ritual in schools reproduces both itself and nationalist ideologies through legal ambiguity in a period of rising nativism and political polarization.

Author

• Xavier Fields, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor