Active agents and fictive kin: Learning from pell-eligible engineering students’ class standpoint

Coleen Carrigan, Jarman Hauser, Eve Riskin, Priti Mody-Pan, Jim Borgford-Parnell, Dawn Wiggin, Scott Winter, Scott Pinkham, Sonya Cunningham

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

7 Scopus citations

Abstract

Students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds are underrepresented in engineering majors. To generate visionary solutions for our complex world, engineering needs diverse perspectives at the table. Individuals from lower socioeconomic backgrounds broaden the potential for engineering applications’ purpose. Our qualitative study of Pell-eligible students identifies challenges to their success and unique sources of inspiration and support. In our action-oriented study, semi-structured interviews illuminated how participants navigate their education within structures that privilege wealthier students. In our analysis, we used a constructivist framework that can amplify the experiences of these students and elucidate the institutional factors that either support or jeopardize their persistence. We found that Pell-eligible students are cognizant of their class standpoint and this shapes their relationship with engineering institutions of higher education. Participants’ narratives illuminated either an oppositional or reconcilable relationship with engineering, a pattern we analyze in both structural and individual terms, using cultural reproduction and standpoint theories. We also found fictive kin relations play an important role in participants’ persistence. Students from low socioeconomic status experience face unique constraints in engineering. Their narratives provide clues as to what transformations engineering education institutions can enact to enable students from all class standpoints to contribute to the engineering profession.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)149-168
Number of pages20
JournalJournal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering
Volume25
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - 2019

Keywords

  • And mathematics (STEM)
  • Diversity in science
  • Engineering
  • Engineering education
  • Higher education
  • Socioeconomic status (SES)
  • Technology

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