Statement of the Problem. This study was undertaken to investigate the formation and development of preservice social studies teachers' perspectives and the relative roles of preservice teacher education and the individual in this process. An individual's teaching perspective is a way of thinking and feeling about and acting in a teaching situation.
Procedure. Examples of teaching perspectives were obtained through interviews with social studies education majors (N = 25) at a major midwestern university. The interviews focused on five aspects of the process of becoming a teacher: (a) motivations for teaching, (b) experiences as a student, (c) models and images of teaching, (d) teacher education course work, and (e) practice teaching experiences.
Findings. Analysis of the data supported the hypothesis that preservice teachers' perspectives are the product of a dialectical process of professional socialization. A dialectical theory of teacher socialization, which incorporated the influences of social structural factors (such as teacher education course work and field experiences) and the active role of the individual, was proposed.
The influence of social structural variables, such as teacher education course work and field experiences, was found to be marginal and did not produce deep internal changes in the belief systems of the respondents. Preservice teachers were not found to be passive recipients of the constraints placed upon them by social structural variables. They function as active mediators in their relationship with socializing institutions as represented by the schools and university teacher education. The active role of the individual in the development of a teaching perspective was illustrated through the employment of four strategies: (1) role-playing, (2) selective role-modeling, (3) impression management, and (4) self-legitimation.