Abstract

We see that the concept of social distance, in other words, social isolation was first used by Emory Bogardus in 1925. Social distance is defined by Bogardus as a distance determined by the proximity or distance between individuals and groups of individuals. Social distance used to express the low degree of relationship between individuals who make up the society. In other words, it is used to indicate the weakness of the social relationship that people and their communities form even if they share the same physical space with each other. The main point that makes social distance most striking is that social groups easily accept or exclude someone who is different.
In this study, the views of teacher candidates studying about social distance at the Faculty of Education, which was first expressed by Emory Bogardus in 1925, were consulted. For this, a questionnaire was prepared by scanning the relevant literature and making use of the scale prepared by Bogardus. The questionnaire used in the research was applied to a total of 20 teacher candidates majoring in social studies teaching, primary school teaching, Turkish teaching and mathematics teaching at Gaziantep University Nizip Faculty of Education. In the study in which qualitative research methods were used, 4 open-ended questions were asked and the data obtained as a result of this were tried to be analyzed by content analysis method. In order to test the comprehensiveness of the questions in the questionnaire, the opinions of field experts were consulted. The questions prepared in advance were given their final form by taking their opinions into account. According to the findings, preservice teachers’ views on social distance were generally positive.