The Commodification of "Diversity" in STEM Education Policy

• In Event: 52.085 - Poster Session 10
  In Poster Session: 52.085-5 - Division L Section 3 Poster Session

Abstract

This paper is part of a larger project that attends to multiple conceptions of neoliberalism as it relates to science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education policy and the intended and unintended effects on women and students of color. I critically engage with specific examples of how discourses of neoliberalism are operationalized in recent STEM education policy. Using feminist poststructuralist discourse analysis (FPDA), I analyze three policy documents focusing on diversity in STEM. I demonstrate that these policy documents construct diversity as simply another commodity in the global marketplace. This paper presentation will open up critical conversations on STEM policy, race, and gender, as well as ask how we might begin to counter such discourses in STEM policy and practice.

Author

• Shannon Christine Gleason, Washington State University