Programming in the workplace: performance and power

The lack of diversity in tech is no secret. In recent years, public attention has been drawn to the fact that companies like Google, Facebook and Microsoft are 'dominated by white and Asian men' (Murgia, 2019). The implications of this are far-reaching, with online systems reflecting the values and biases of the programmers that build them. However, while much has been made of the need to make tech more diverse, comparatively little attention has been paid to
programmers' everyday experiences of inequality in the workplace. Drawing on the theoretical work of Erving Goffman and Pierre Bourdieu, I plan to complete a qualitative study investigating whether, and how, the tech workplace is better suited to some than others. This research is important if we do not want technology to reproduce and reinforce existing orders of inequality.