Early Career Engineers' Perception of Social Justice in Engineering

Abstract

The inclusion of society and environment into the quintuple innovation helix opens the door to explore issues of ethics and social justice within engineering. There have been many discussions about the relationship between engineering and social justice and how this relationship is taught (see the books Riley, 2008; and Lucena, 2013; and Leydens and Lucena, 2017). The purpose of this poster is to explore and highlight how early career engineers perceive the relationship between engineering and social justice as well as identify common themes that could be used to inspire future analysis. This poster uses data collected from 20 early career engineers as part of a larger longitudinal mixed-methods study into engineering students' perceptions of ethics and social responsibility. Specifically, We use data from the third round of interviews that occurred after all the participants had graduated from their undergraduate programs and were either enrolled in a graduate program or working full time. The participants were asked if engineering is related to social justice and to explain their reasoning. Most participants were able to articulate some level of connection between engineering and their perception of social justice. Even if a participant was initially unsure about the definition of social justice or its relationship to engineering, most participants were still able to articulate a connection. Only one participant said there was no overlap and described engineering as creative problem solving but social justice as more political. Many participants were able to describe the relationship between the two and provide clear examples of engineering and social justice influencing each other. Some participants discussed social justice and engineering in the context of the impact of engineering work and proximity to the end-users of their product. For example, the connection to social justice for some disciplines or industry sectors, such as electrical engineering or weapons manufacturing, was not clear for some participants. A similar theme present in participant responses was the relationship between social injustice and engineering, such as discriminatory city planning, and seatbelts being designed without consideration for female bodies. If engineering can be socially unjust, then it can also be socially just. This poster also highlights areas where early career engineers most clearly perceive social justice in their own work and within engineering more broadly.