diff --git a/rest_framework/fields.py b/rest_framework/fields.py
index 9507914e8..8c80d6bd5 100644
--- a/rest_framework/fields.py
+++ b/rest_framework/fields.py
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ from django.utils.dateparse import (
     parse_date, parse_datetime, parse_duration, parse_time
 )
 from django.utils.duration import duration_string
-from django.utils.encoding import is_protected_type, smart_text
+from django.utils.encoding import is_protected_type, smart_str
 from django.utils.formats import localize_input, sanitize_separators
 from django.utils.ipv6 import clean_ipv6_address
 from django.utils.timezone import utc
@@ -1082,7 +1082,7 @@ class DecimalField(Field):
         instance.
         """
 
-        data = smart_text(data).strip()
+        data = smart_str(data).strip()
 
         if self.localize:
             data = sanitize_separators(data)
diff --git a/rest_framework/relations.py b/rest_framework/relations.py
index af4dd1804..3a2a8fb4b 100644
--- a/rest_framework/relations.py
+++ b/rest_framework/relations.py
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ from django.core.exceptions import ImproperlyConfigured, ObjectDoesNotExist
 from django.db.models import Manager
 from django.db.models.query import QuerySet
 from django.urls import NoReverseMatch, Resolver404, get_script_prefix, resolve
-from django.utils.encoding import smart_text, uri_to_iri
+from django.utils.encoding import smart_str, uri_to_iri
 from django.utils.translation import gettext_lazy as _
 
 from rest_framework.fields import (
@@ -452,7 +452,7 @@ class SlugRelatedField(RelatedField):
         try:
             return self.get_queryset().get(**{self.slug_field: data})
         except ObjectDoesNotExist:
-            self.fail('does_not_exist', slug_name=self.slug_field, value=smart_text(data))
+            self.fail('does_not_exist', slug_name=self.slug_field, value=smart_str(data))
         except (TypeError, ValueError):
             self.fail('invalid')
 
diff --git a/rest_framework/schemas/inspectors.py b/rest_framework/schemas/inspectors.py
index 3b7e7f963..027472db1 100644
--- a/rest_framework/schemas/inspectors.py
+++ b/rest_framework/schemas/inspectors.py
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ See schemas.__init__.py for package overview.
 import re
 from weakref import WeakKeyDictionary
 
-from django.utils.encoding import smart_text
+from django.utils.encoding import smart_str
 
 from rest_framework.settings import api_settings
 from rest_framework.utils import formatting
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ class ViewInspector:
         method_docstring = getattr(view, method_name, None).__doc__
         if method_docstring:
             # An explicit docstring on the method or action.
-            return self._get_description_section(view, method.lower(), formatting.dedent(smart_text(method_docstring)))
+            return self._get_description_section(view, method.lower(), formatting.dedent(smart_str(method_docstring)))
         else:
             return self._get_description_section(view, getattr(view, 'action', method.lower()),
                                                  view.get_view_description())
diff --git a/rest_framework/schemas/utils.py b/rest_framework/schemas/utils.py
index 6724eb428..60ed69829 100644
--- a/rest_framework/schemas/utils.py
+++ b/rest_framework/schemas/utils.py
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ utils.py        # Shared helper functions
 See schemas.__init__.py for package overview.
 """
 from django.db import models
-from django.utils.translation import ugettext_lazy as _
+from django.utils.translation import gettext_lazy as _
 
 from rest_framework.mixins import RetrieveModelMixin
 
diff --git a/rest_framework/views.py b/rest_framework/views.py
index bec10560a..69db053d6 100644
--- a/rest_framework/views.py
+++ b/rest_framework/views.py
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ from django.db import connection, models, transaction
 from django.http import Http404
 from django.http.response import HttpResponseBase
 from django.utils.cache import cc_delim_re, patch_vary_headers
-from django.utils.encoding import smart_text
+from django.utils.encoding import smart_str
 from django.views.decorators.csrf import csrf_exempt
 from django.views.generic import View
 
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ def get_view_description(view, html=False):
     if description is None:
         description = view.__class__.__doc__ or ''
 
-    description = formatting.dedent(smart_text(description))
+    description = formatting.dedent(smart_str(description))
     if html:
         return formatting.markup_description(description)
     return description