NCSS Conference Insights. Social Studies Literacy.

Was polity preferred by the presenter because "nation" and "state" et cetera are too specific? I'm curious what their tone was...

There was a hearty debate a few years back when our central office tried to rebrand Social Studies as Social Science. Technically not wrong, but confusing. And "studies" doesn't always give an air of seriousness.

It sounded like this is something new that all teachers are going to be doing. And, in fact, since the conference, I have heard the word 'polity' used over and again. I wonder if anyone else has heard an uptick in the use of the word? 

I'm not sure it would be very helpful for my students. It seems rather specialized. I like how we use community to cover a range of human organizations.

Does this mean that the words community and polity are interchangeable? Can the term community refer to a form of government? 

Does this mean that the words community and polity are interchangeable? Can the term community refer to a form of government? 

Here are the definitions

community a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common. 

"the scientific community" "the sense of community that organized religion can provide"

polity: a form or process of civil government or constitution. 

"the civic humanist's polity" 

an organized society; a state as a political entity. "the period in which West Germany was a distinct polity"

 a feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals. 

My concern would be that polity is not that useful of a word. The WHP vocabulary is grouped by tiers. I'd put polity in tier 3 and community in tier 2.

Any thoughts?

First of all, thank you for being willing to discuss this question in such detail with me. This is something that I love about studying history. Words Matter should be my motto. 

It seems like the real choice between terms is polity, government, or state. The person speaking at the NCSS conference seemed be saying that polity is better than the terms 'state' or 'government'. 

One aspect of this does make sense to me. My students have trouble differentiating between the term a state in the United States, and state, as in a nation or territory considered as an organized political community under one government. Polity is a useful tern in this case. 

They feel like knock-offs of "nation" and "state", personally.

But useful when you want to talk about a city state or a tribe or a clan, and a nation and a state.