When the watchdogs look away: the role of engineers' ideological commitments in their grappling with tech bias.
Amid breakneck advancements in digital and mechanical technologies, postindustrial societies lean on tech professionals, particularly engineers, to be public welfare watchdogs—to recognize the potential for public welfare threats and to be accountable to intervene. But do engineers recognize public...
| Publicado en: | Social Forces Vol. 105; no. 1; pp. 275 - 299 |
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| Formato: | Artículo |
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Oxford University Press / USA
Sep2026
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=196060145&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 196060145 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00377732 SFR jtl: Social Forces issn: 00377732 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Sep2026 vid: 105 iid: 1 pid: 622 pub: Oxford University Press / USA artinfo: ui: 196060145 10.1093/sf/soaf176 ppf: 275 ppct: 24 formats: tig: atl: When the watchdogs look away: the role of engineers' ideological commitments in their grappling with tech bias. aug: au: Cech, Erin A affil: Department of Sociology, Department of Mechanical Engineering (by courtesy), University of Michigan, 3115 LSA Building, 500 S. State St., Ann Arbor, MI 48109, United States keyword: copyrightHolder:University of North Carolina Chapel Hill copyrightYear:2026 inequality/social stratification inLanguage:en occupations/professions publisher:Oxford University Press sameAs:https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/sf/soaf176 tech bias copyrightHolder:University of North Carolina Chapel Hill copyrightYear:2026 inequality/social stratification inLanguage:en occupations/professions publisher:Oxford University Press sameAs:https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/sf/soaf176 tech bias ab: Amid breakneck advancements in digital and mechanical technologies, postindustrial societies lean on tech professionals, particularly engineers, to be public welfare watchdogs—to recognize the potential for public welfare threats and to be accountable to intervene. But do engineers recognize public welfare concerns like tech bias as part of their professional responsibilities? Do they acknowledge technology's role in inequality? Using representative survey data of US engineers, I find that the majority disregarded the recognition, accountability, and remediation of tech bias as part of their professional duties. Arguing that engineers' grappling with tech bias is not a detached professional assessment but a sensemaking practice entwined with other ideological commitments, I find that politically conservative engineers were far less likely than their more liberal peers to see tech bias concerns as part of their professional duties. Tellingly, engineers who endorsed traditional ideologies in the professional culture of engineering about the defense of epistemic purity of their work were also less likely to see tech bias concerns as part of their responsibilities. These findings have important implications for tech equity and professions literatures: not only can inequality concerns be deeply politicized among professionals, but professionals can interpret the dismissal of these inequality concerns as broadly consistent with integrity and excellence in their field. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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