Liturature Review Blog Post #4

The article used for this review is called, "Causes and Consequences of Inequality in the STEM: Diversity and its Discontents," by Sharla N. Alegria and Enobong Hannah Branch.

1) Picture-

2) Citation- 

Alegria, Sharla N, and Enobong Hannah Branch. “Causes and Consequences of Inequality in the STEM: Diversity and Its Discontents.” Genderandset, International Journal of Gender, Science, and Technology,file:///C:/Users/tripl/Documents/ResearchDisciplines/Causes%20and%20Consequences.pdf

3) Brief Summary-

This article attacks the issue of a lack of diversity in STEM from a different angle. It actually provides statistics and graphs that show that diversity has actually improved in recent years among white men and white women. White men are gradually taking up smaller percentages of the total STEM population. In short, the aritcle provides hope that efforts to create more diversity is finally working. 

4) About the Author- 

Sharla N. Alegria works in the department of sociology at the University of Massachusetts. She has a PhD in sociology from the school she works at with a graduate certificate in Advanced Feminist Studies. Her areas of specialization include race and gender sciences. Her disertation was written with Enobong Hannah Branch on immigrants in the workforce. 

5) Key Terms- 

"Social Science" is thee study of human society and social relationships. Alegria and Branch study social relationships in STEM and how being a minority shifts the perspectives of others.

"Computing" in terms of this article refers to a particular field in STEM in which there is a decreasing amont of white males.

6) Quotes-

"In 1960, nearly 90% of scientists and engineers were White men, but this number fell sharply, roughly 10% each decade, until 2000 when the percentage of Computing workers who are White men begins to level off at about 50%" (Alegria and Branch 331).

"While immigrants are highly successful in entering the American scientific workforce, they do so with severe restrictions that bind their legal status in the country to the good faith of their employers" (Alegria and Branch 339).

7) Value-

This article is very valuable because it is the only source that provides a sense of controversy. All other sources talk about how diversity is not where it needs to be. While this is true, this article provies insight that diversity used to be a lot worse and has actually significantly improved.