The Implications of Morality Politics for Effecting Inclusion in the STEM Workforce
Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workforce development, identified as a critical consideration for meeting current and future societal needs and challenges, depends on the capacity to draw upon a talented pool of individuals possessing requisite knowledge and training. In the United States, as elsewhere, related questions have arisen about who constitutes that pool and the conditions under which it has been determined. Noting the currency and controversies surrounding persistent inequalities and inequities in STEM educational attainment and workforce participation, the research presented here offers an elaborated framework and dedicated analysis of related processes, with the goal of extending understanding and delineating implications for identifying strategic points for intervention. In ideological and political terms, efforts to combat related educational and workforce disparities reflect a “morality politics” diffused in social identities and behaviors and embedded in structural claims with broad and pragmatic implications for STEM educational access and workforce opportunity. With particular attention to race and ethnicity (and gender), this analysis revisits and unpacks related assumptions and addresses challenges attached to the distribution of benefits and burdens in the face of both ideological and practical expediencies in determining profiles of STEM participation and inclusion.