Rethinking the Social Responsibilities of Engineers as a Form of Accountability

Abstract

Although there is broad consensus that engineers have social responsibilities, what is owed in the name of social responsibility is not well understood. After briefly reviewing past attempts to understand the social responsibilities of engineers, an account that treats these responsibilities as a form of accountability is sketched. Accountability involves a relationship between an actor and a forum, a shared sense of obligation to explain and justify behavior, and shared norms regarding what needs to be explained, what counts as an adequate explanation, and what consequences might follow. Framing the social responsibilities of engineers as accountability brings to light the multiple actors involved and the activities by which social responsibilities are constituted. Among other things, the account locates the social responsibilities of engineers in the activities of engineering professional organizations, especially when they issue reports on engineering failures. The account also points to the importance of whistleblowing. The idea that social responsibility falls to individual engineers regardless of context or that social responsibility is a decontextualized moral matter is eschewed in favor of understanding engineers’ social responsibilities as constituted through social practices.