Social Science Education for Just and Sustaining Societies

People around the world face grave crises of wars, climate change, genocides, rising sea levels, human rights violations, and inequitable distribution of natural resources. These problems are transcontinental, interconnected, and create immense human suffering, which require collective efforts toward just and sustainable global solutions. The United Nations resolved to address these concerns in adopting the Sustainable Development Goals in 2015. These goals form a “plan of action for people, planet, and prosperity,” which “seeks to strengthen universal peace in greater freedom” (United Nations, 2015, para. 1).

The social sciences are uniquely positioned to address the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by offering content and tools to pursue just and sustainable societies. The knowledge, skills, and values of social science education can empower global citizens to seek truth, to deliberate on the current problems, and to shape a just and equitable future for people and for our planet. In this volume, authors from around the world a) propose critical philosophical questions, b) describe current education problems, and c) explore educational possibilities for a just and sustainable world.