Abstract
A more socially just engineering profession will necessitate multiple changes to its pipeline—engineering education. If social justice education is to extend across and within the content of the engineering curriculum, it will need to inform and reform multiple educational components: foundational, design and engineering science—as well as humanities and social science—curricula. This chapter identifies common sources of faculty resistance to integrating social justice education in one of those curricular components: humanities and social science pedagogy and content. To facilitate the integration of social justice education in humanities and social science curricula within engineering education, this chapter proposes guidelines that address those sources of resistance. Although initially designed for humanities and social science curricula, the guidelines proposed here have multiple implications for addressing faculty resistance across the entire engineering curriculum. The chapter concludes with an overview of the strengths and weaknesses of the guidelines.
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Notes
- 1.
At present, ABET accredits engineering programs in 24 countries; see http://main.abet.org/aps/Accreditedprogramsearch.aspx
- 2.
ABET identifies these student outcomes:
-
(a)
an ability to apply knowledge of mathematics, science, and engineering
-
(b)
an ability to design and conduct experiments, as well as to analyze and interpret data
-
(c)
an ability to design a system, component, or process to meet desired needs within realistic constraints such as economic, environmental, social, political, ethical, health and safety, manufacturability, and sustainability
-
(d)
an ability to function on multidisciplinary teams
-
(e)
an ability to identify, formulate, and solve engineering problems
-
(f)
an understanding of professional and ethical responsibility
-
(g)
an ability to communicate effectively
-
(h)
the broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global, economic, environmental, and societal context
-
(i)
a recognition of the need for, and an ability to engage in life-long learning
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(j)
a knowledge of contemporary issues
-
(k)
an ability to use the techniques, skills, and modern engineering tools necessary for engineering practice.
-
(a)
- 3.
The need to transcend the technical-nontechnical binary is discussed in section 6a below.
- 4.
Our work also delineates conceptual links between conflict theory (which opposes functionalism) and social justice (Leydens et al. 2012).
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Acknowledgments
I would like to thank every faculty member—now several hundred—who has ever participated in a faculty development workshop that I have facilitated. I have learned much from your questions, insight, and hunger for learning and becoming better instructors. Also, Juan C. Lucena provided excellent editorial counsel as this chapter evolved. My gratitude also extends to ESJP Network members, whose research, dedication, commitment, and open-mindedness has catalyzed my own personal and professional development. Finally, research on this paper was funded by a grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation, No. SES-0930213. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
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Appendix: Sample Social Justice Definitions
Appendix: Sample Social Justice Definitions
Barry argues for a fill-in-the-blank definition: The subject of social justice is the _______________ (fill in the blank) distribution among ________________ (fill in the blank) of rights, opportunities and resources that exist in a given society. Different perspectives fill in the blanks differently: for instance, from a feminist or civil rights perspective, the terms would be, “equal”… “men and women” or “blacks and whites” or “gay and straight.” From a faith-based or Rawlsian perspective, “fair” … “rich and poor,” etc. (Barry 2005)
“Social justice is concerned not in the narrow focus on what is just for the individual alone, but what is just for the social whole…. [T]he study of social justice includes developing an understanding of distributive principles (fair allocation of rewards and burdens) and retributive principles (appropriate responses to harm)….” (Capeheart and Milovanovic 2007, p. 2)
Social justice examines “the unequal ways in which social hierarchies sort difference to the benefit of some groups over others” (Adams et al. 2007; quoted in Bell 2010, p. 11).
“‘Social Justice Work’ is work that we do in the interest of securing human rights, an equitable distribution of resources, a healthy planet, democracy, and a space for the human spirit to thrive.” —Innosanto Nagara, Co-founder DesignAction Collective (quoted in Riley 2008, p. 4).
“[after a longer definition] … It means that those of us who have privilege must be willing to give up those things that cannot be sustained in a fair world—especially those things that use an unfair percentage of the world’s environmental resources.”—Rick Ufford-Chase, International Director, BorderLinks (quoted in Riley 2008, p. 4).
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Leydens, J.A. (2013). Integrating Social Justice into Engineering Education from the Margins: Guidelines for Addressing Sources of Faculty Resistance to Social Justice Education. In: Lucena, J. (eds) Engineering Education for Social Justice. Philosophy of Engineering and Technology, vol 10. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6350-0_9
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