| NSF Org: |
DUE Division Of Undergraduate Education |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | June 30, 2017 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | August 27, 2018 |
| Award Number: | 1712436 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
R. Corby Hovis
chovis@nsf.gov (703)292-4625 DUE Division Of Undergraduate Education EDU Directorate for STEM Education |
| Start Date: | August 1, 2017 |
| End Date: | July 31, 2021 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $299,209.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $299,209.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
3100 MARINE ST Boulder CO US 80309-0001 (303)492-6221 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
3100 Marine Street, Room 481 Boulder CO US 80309-0572 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | IUSE |
| Primary Program Source: |
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| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.076 |
ABSTRACT
This project will address the significant need to increase diversity in physics by developing a robust understanding of the majority population's beliefs, knowledge, and attitudes toward the marginalization of white women and people of color. Most physicists in the United States are white men, which is a result of many factors, including unnecessary barriers that unfairly impede the success of white women and people of color. Increasing diversity in physics both improves the quality of physics research and is a matter of justice. This project is significant in its departure from previous work (which has generally focused on those from underrepresented minority groups) by focusing on white men, who constitute an overrepresented majority of physicists. Through interviews with 120 white male physics students and professors, this project will describe the majority group's understanding of race- and gender-based marginalization in physics. This information will be important for designing programs that productively involve both minority and majority populations in efforts to diversify physics.
The three goals of the project are to (1) document and understand the majority population's knowledge of, beliefs about, and experience with race- and gender-based inequities in physics; (2) develop theories about the logic that underlies the majority population's understanding of race, gender, and marginalization in physics; and (3) use these theories to identify avenues for change. To achieve these goals, 120 self-identified white male physics students and faculty at five research universities will be interviewed about race and gender in physics. Interview data will be analyzed using a framework that describes marginalization along four dimensions: ideological, institutional, interpersonal, and internalized. By filling the gap in knowledge about the majority group's views about race and gender, this project will advance the understanding of barriers to success faced by people from minority groups in physics.
PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
We present results from an interview study of 27 graduate students and faculty in physics, who are self-identified white men, exploring their knowledge, beliefs, and experiences around gender and race. Interview participants identify as progressive regarding their views and understandings of inequity. Interviews were transcribed and coded using an emergent coding scheme.
Despite their good intentions, our interviewees engaged in patterns of thought and speech that did more to support and maintain white and male supremacy in physics than to undermine it. Below we list and explain some of the more salient themes to emerge.
Invisibility of Oppression and Privilege
Quite frequently, participants failed to notice oppression or to recognize their own privilege. This came in many forms. For example, when asked if they had ever witnessed sexism or racism in physics they indicated they had not, but that women and/or people of color had told them it was happening around them. They generally viewed themselves as unable to understand or recognize inequity and without the responsibility to learn.
Nearly every participant had an instance where they claimed to be unaware of racism or sexism around them. Often times they were not even aware they were unaware. By failing to notice oppression and their own privileges, they can not participate as an agent in change. Being unaware of oppression serves to uphold white male power in physics.
Discourses of Distancing
Participants frequently talked about issues of race and gender in ways that located the problem (and therefore the solution) far outside their domain. A common way participants distanced themselves was to literally describe racism and sexism as being geographically at a distance, something that happens somewhere else involving people they do not know or interact with. Another common discourse of distancing was to describe the cause and solutions of inequity as being in spheres over which the participant had no control. Each of these is described in more detail below.
Not Local/Not Here – Participants often talked about problems of inequity as being far away from their local environment (i.e. not their classroom, department, university, locality, region etc.).
Too Big – Another way participants distanced themselves was by locating the causes and solutions of racism and sexism as being outside their domain of influence. They commonly attributed gaps in participation in STEM to socioeconomic factors, to circumstances before college, or to larger societal issues.
While the research presented during the interviews were all collected in a STEM context, it is striking and important to note how rarely participants located the problem within STEM and their own sphere of influence, i.e. that women and people of color leave the field because of hostile interactions in physics departments. Failing to locate any portion of the problem in their own sphere of influence, participants can justify not taking action to address it.
The discourses of distancing used by our participants support and maintain white male supremacy. They allow white men to dismiss their own complicity in systems of power that favor them. Additionally, distancing discourses serve to obscure opportunities for resistance.
Minimizing Impact
Participants frequently minimized the existence and impact of racism and sexism. Below we describe two common discourses of minimizing, the discourse of intentionally and the discourse of progress.
Intentionality – It was common for a participant to talk about a specific instance of racism or sexism they had witnessed or heard about, and to minimize it by stating it was unintentional. Focusing on the intent of behavior obscures the impact.
Appeals to Progress – Also commonly participants minimized the impacts of sexism and racism by focusing on progress made, thereby positioning things as better than they once were.
By using the discourse of progress, the focus shifts from current systemic sexism and racism to the positive focus of at least it is getting better. Like the other identified discourses, this serves to obscure the significance of the racism and sexism our participants were forced to confront and inhibits taking action to address it.
Conclusion/Contribution
Throughout the interviews we find many instances of discourses that serve to maintain white and male supremacy through invisibility, distancing, and minimizing. These discourses allow white men to internally justify taking little action to challenge the systemic landscape in STEM that privileges them. We posit that addressing inequity in STEM will require acknowledging and challenging these common discourses utilized by the generally well-intentioned majority population.
Last Modified: 02/24/2022
Modified by: Melissa Dancy
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