ANALYZING SIGNALS OF (IN)EQUITY AND POWER IN ENGINEERING COLLEGE INTERNSHIP ADVERTISEMENTS

Abstract

Gendered and racialized barriers play a significant role in undergraduate students’ interest and persistence in engineering. While sexist and racist environments have been widely investigated in engineering academic settings, the impediments to equity in work-related engineering socialization experiences are far less explored. Specific to undergraduate students’ work settings, internships serve as anticipatory socialization experiences where students learn what it is like to work in certain fields. Yet, little is known about the cues that sponsoring companies provide to potential interns about organizational ideology and power. Drawing from 122 advertisements for college engineering internships, this study explored companies’ language and linguistic tools in ads. Within a framework of signaling theory and feminist critical discourse analysis, we used document analysis to examine organizational statements of equal employment and diversity as well as (implicitly gendered and racialized) power structures signaled by linguistic tools (e.g., nominative personal pronouns). Findings reveal a lack of specificity in companies’ explicit statements, suggesting that “diversity” language evades identifying concrete equity efforts. Further, results illustrate the complex nature of how companies used linguistic tools to promote their own diversity values and position interns’ agency. Leveraging a feminist lens, we discuss how leaving inclusive practices and power structures unnamed may signal a performative commitment to equity. We conclude with implications for higher education researchers, practitioners in career services, and employers recruiting college interns.