Book excerpt: Since the birth of the republic, the aim of social education has been to prepare citizens for participation in democracy. In the twentieth century, theories about what constitutes good citizenship and who gets full citizenship in the civic polity changed dramatically. In this book, contributors with backgrounds in history of education, educational foundations, educational leadership, and social studies education consider how social education - inside and outside school - has responded to the needs of a society in which the nature and prerogatives of citizenship continue to be contentious issues.