Engineering Dissent: Moving Political Engagement for Social Justice from the Vanguard into the Mainstream of the Engineering Profession

工程师设计的项目可以改善社会公平（例如，为弱势社区提供清洁水），同时塑造导致不公正的基础设施（例如，通过大坝使整个人口流离失所）。纵观现代工程职业的历史，工程师的小团体一直在为社会正义问题而斗争。这些工程师扮演着积极分子、改革者或倡导者的角色，努力引导他们的专业方向。与他们的同行——大多数领导和专业人士——相反，这些社会正义事业的捍卫者是“持不同政见者”。他们挑战工程实践的现状。如今，越来越多的工科学生和年轻专业人士带着对社会公正的关注进入这个领域。然而，许多毕业生进入的行业并没有像他们希望的那样与政治密切相关。越来越多的工程师希望看到他们的专业更深入地参与社会正义工作，这一愿望推动了该项目的开展。研究人员旨在通过以下方式加强社会公正在工程中的作用：(a)绘制专业文化中社会公正的演变图，然后(b)与工程学生团体和专业成员协会分享（有效的宣传渠道）的发现。本研究的目的是研究工程师先锋队围绕社会正义问题的政治参与，并调查他们的异议——无论是以行动主义、倡导、抗议还是改革的形式表达——如何塑造他们的职业文化。该项目结合了专业和社会运动的理论以及组织理论来调查(a)工程专业将围绕社会正义问题的政治参与制度化（或边缘化）的机制；(b)如何动员不同意见的话语，将围绕社会正义问题的政治意识带入工程专业。这些问题将使用研究专业文化的整体方法来解决，其中包括：通过分析传统和社交媒体中的非正式和正式文本，对围绕社会正义工作的先锋和主流话语进行定量和定性分析；对专业事件进行深入的民族志观察，其中工程师的社会化使不同意见的实践和话语在专业文化形成中的作用可见；以及对工程异议者的深入、半结构化访谈——无论他们是活动家、改革者、先锋还是其他政治抗议的角色。这项研究的结果及其发现的传播将使无数形式的工程异议变得可见，其目的是将社会正义纳入该专业的主流。

Engineers design projects that improve social equity (by, for example, bringing clean water to disadvantaged communities) while simultaneously shaping infrastructure that causes injustice (through, for example, dams that displace entire populations). Throughout the history of the modern engineering profession, small groups of engineers have fought for social justice issues. These engineers took on the roles of activist, reformer, or advocate as they struggled to steer the direction of their profession. In contrast to their peers - the majority of the leaders and members of the profession - these champions of social justice causes were "dissenters". They challenged the status quo of engineering practice. Today, more engineering students and young professionals enter the field with a concern for social justice. Yet many graduate into the ranks of a profession that is not as politically engaged as they hoped. This project is motivated by the desire of a growing number of engineers to see their profession more deeply engaged in social justice work. The investigators aim to strengthen the role of social justice in engineering by, (a) mapping the evolution of social justice in the culture of the profession, and then (b) sharing the findings (of effective channels of advocacy) with engineering student groups and professional member societies.The objective of this research is to study political engagement around social justice issues by a vanguard of engineers and to investigate how their dissent - be it expressed as activism, advocacy, protest, or reform - shapes the culture of their profession. The project engages theories of professions and social movements along with organizational theory to investigate (a) the mechanisms through which the engineering profession institutionalizes (or marginalizes) political engagement around social justice issues; and (b) ways the discourse of dissent are mobilized in bringing political consciousness around social justice issues to the engineering profession. These questions will be addressed using a holistic methodology for studying professional culture that comprises: quantitative and qualitative analysis of vanguard and mainstream discourses around social justice work, by analyzing informal and formal texts, in traditional and social media; in-depth, ethnographic observations of professional events where the socialization of engineers makes visible the role of practices and discourses of dissent in professional culture formation; and in-depth, semi-structured interviews with engineering dissenters - whether they occupy roles of activist, reformer, vanguard, or other positions of political protest. The results of this research and the dissemination of its findings will make visible the myriad forms of engineering dissent with the aim of bringing social justice into the mainstream of the profession.