Engineers’ perceptions of their role in society: the South African case

Abstract

Being sparked by interactions with students in the context of a course called ‘Engineer in Society’, this work-in-progress study explores how engineers conceived of their role during the period of apartheid in South Africa. The literature suggests that engineers consider their contribution to society in solely technical terms rather than in social or political terms. Using interviews with engineering academics, this paper examines how respondents’ navigated engineering practice and academic work. The findings indicate significant complexity in terms of how engineers conceived of their role in relation to society, a relationship that was mediated by politicised academic institutions and differentiated cultural norms. This also has an impact on the notion of the culpability of engineers and the question of whether they resisted or complied with the pervasive and brutal regime of apartheid. Although the study revealed a variety of positions and dispositions taken on by engineers, an interesting stance was that of ‘technical activism’ which involved engineers resisting apartheid by exploiting the liberal spaces that were made available in the context of their engineering work.