diff --git a/django/utils/encoding.py b/django/utils/encoding.py
index 99c9da843a..4e347bdc5f 100644
--- a/django/utils/encoding.py
+++ b/django/utils/encoding.py
@@ -77,12 +77,12 @@ def force_text(s, encoding='utf-8', strings_only=False, errors='strict'):
     If strings_only is True, don't convert (some) non-string-like objects.
     """
     # Handle the common case first for performance reasons.
-    if isinstance(s, six.text_type):
+    if issubclass(type(s), six.text_type):
         return s
     if strings_only and is_protected_type(s):
         return s
     try:
-        if not isinstance(s, six.string_types):
+        if not issubclass(type(s), six.string_types):
             if six.PY3:
                 if isinstance(s, bytes):
                     s = six.text_type(s, encoding, errors)
diff --git a/docs/releases/1.8.3.txt b/docs/releases/1.8.3.txt
index 1155ac1cb6..d965630c77 100644
--- a/docs/releases/1.8.3.txt
+++ b/docs/releases/1.8.3.txt
@@ -19,3 +19,6 @@ Bugfixes
   ``Count()`` (:ticket:`24835`).
 
 * Corrected ``HStoreField.has_changed()`` (:ticket:`24844`).
+
+* Reverted an optimization to the CSRF template context processor which caused
+  a regression (:ticket:`24836`).
diff --git a/tests/csrf_tests/test_context_processor.py b/tests/csrf_tests/test_context_processor.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..270b3e4771
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/csrf_tests/test_context_processor.py
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+import json
+
+from django.http import HttpRequest
+from django.template.context_processors import csrf
+from django.test import SimpleTestCase
+from django.utils.encoding import force_text
+
+
+class TestContextProcessor(SimpleTestCase):
+
+    def test_force_text_on_token(self):
+        request = HttpRequest()
+        request.META['CSRF_COOKIE'] = 'test-token'
+        token = csrf(request).get('csrf_token')
+        self.assertEqual(json.dumps(force_text(token)), '"test-token"')
diff --git a/tests/utils_tests/test_encoding.py b/tests/utils_tests/test_encoding.py
index 81024bdf12..9527f29dcf 100644
--- a/tests/utils_tests/test_encoding.py
+++ b/tests/utils_tests/test_encoding.py
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ from django.utils.encoding import (
     escape_uri_path, filepath_to_uri, force_bytes, force_text, iri_to_uri,
     smart_text, uri_to_iri,
 )
+from django.utils.functional import SimpleLazyObject
 from django.utils.http import urlquote_plus
 
 
@@ -28,6 +29,10 @@ class TestEncodingUtils(unittest.TestCase):
         exception = TypeError if six.PY3 else UnicodeError
         self.assertRaises(exception, force_text, MyString())
 
+    def test_force_text_lazy(self):
+        s = SimpleLazyObject(lambda: 'x')
+        self.assertTrue(issubclass(type(force_text(s)), six.text_type))
+
     def test_force_bytes_exception(self):
         """
         Test that force_bytes knows how to convert to bytes an exception