Student Perspectives on Socio-technical Thinking, Depoliticization, and Meritocracy

Engineers are often asked to solve problems that involve socio-technical and political considerations. However, engineering education focuses more on technical than socio-technical concerns, contributing to a culture of disengagement. This study investigated whether second-year engineering student perspectives aligned with the culture of disengagement. Forty students responded to the survey on socio-technical thinking, depoliticization, and meritocracy. Students demonstrated some alignment with the culture of disengagement. They emphasized the technical work of engineering, identified politics as separate from engineering work, and generally agreed with prescriptive meritocracy. However, students also had perspectives that did not align with the culture of disengagement. Students were less in agreement with descriptive meritocracy and showed appreciation for considering multiples perspectives, encompassing cultural beliefs, social justice, and human emotions, in engineering work, and the importance of working with non-engineers. Future work will examine student perspectives throughout their engineering education to learn how they change with time.