Dancy M. Hodari A. How well -intentioned white male physicists ... 1 How well -intentioned white male physicists maintain ignorance of inequity and justify inaction.

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Dancy, M. & Hodari, A. “How well-intentioned white male physicists ...” 1

How well-intentioned white male physicists

maintain ignorance of inequity and justify inaction.

Melissa Dancy

Western Michigan University

melissa.dancy@wmich.edu

Apriel K. Hodari, Eureka Scientific, Inc.

Abstract

Background: We present an analysis of interviews with 27 self-identified progressive white-male

physics faculty and graduate students discussing race and gender in physics. White men

dominate most STEM fields and are particularly overrepresented in positions of status and

influence (i.e. full professors, chairs, deans, etc.), positioning them as a potentially powerful

demographic for enacting systemic reform. Despite their proclaimed outrage at and interest in

addressing inequity, they frequently engage in patterns of belief, speech and (in)action that

ultimately support the status quo of white male privilege in opposition to their intentions.

Results: The white male physicists we interviewed used numerous discourses which support

racist and sexist norms and position them as powerless to disrupt their own privilege. We

present and discuss three overarching themes, seen in our data, demonstrating how highly

intelligent, well-intentioned people of privilege maintain their power and privilege despite their

own intentions: 1) Denying inequity is physically near them, 2) Locating causes of inequity in

large societal systems over which they have little influence and 3) Justifying inaction.

Conclusions: Despite being progressively minded, well-meaning, and highly intelligent, these

men are frequently complicit in racism and sexism in physics. We end with recommendations for

helping these men to engage the power they hold to better work with women and people of

color in disrupting inequity in physics.

Key Words: Equity, gender, race, discourse analysis, whiteness,

masculinity

Dancy, M. & Hodari, A. “How well-intentioned white male physicists ...” 2

Introduction

“There's something else I was going to say... oh yeah, anger. It makes me angry to think

about race and gender in physics because I think there's so much wrong and there's so

little I can do about it. Honestly that's not a small part of why I don't plan on continuing in

physics after grad school, is that I don't think I can have enough of an impact that I can

be not just continuously furious with the culture that I'm stuck in.” - Ryan, white male

physics graduate student

Ryan is not unusual. He finds himself in a field where people like him, cis white men, are

granted unearned power and opportunity. He recognizes the inherent injustice of his own

privilege and is angry about it. Like many white men, he did not choose this reality and desires

to dismantle it. He reports, “I am fairly strongly involved in working on the culture of physics. I'm

pretty well educated on a lot of these things, more than I would say an average selection of my

peers. I've been taking equity trainings since ninth grade. I've actually run a couple of equity

trainings in physics. …I'm not alone. I think there are a lot of other people like me.”

We agree with Ryan, there are a lot of other men like him. Men who deeply care, men who are

willing to give their time to learning and acting to address the injustice they see around them.

And also like Ryan, many of these men feel powerless to have an impact.

This powerlessness is perplexing. White men dominate physics (and most STEM fields)

numerically at all levels, with their overrepresentation increasing for positions of status and

influence (i.e. full professors, chairs, deans, etc.). White men historically had the most influence

shaping culture and structures in STEM and, despite much rhetoric and action for reform,

continue to hold disproportionate influence today. They are the holders of power and yet they

frequently position themselves as powerless to address inequity.

There are white men who deliberately fight to maintain their unearned privileges but they are a

minority. In a 2020 survey of 1023 chemistry, math and physics faculty in the US (Dancy, 2022),

the vast majority of white male STEM faculty (86%, n=440) classified efforts to encourage

diversity in their field as “beneficial” while less than 2% classified such efforts as “detrimental”.

Likewise 91% selected agree or strongly agree to the statement “I have a personal responsibility

to take action to address in equity in {my field}.”

As this data demonstrates, the majority of white men who study and work in physics recognize

inequity exists, desire for a change, and are willing to exert personal effort toward that end. And

yet, it continues. Despite significant time and resource expenditures over the last 25 years, the

percent of women and people of color earning a PhD in physics has increased only marginally

(Porter, 2019). And for those with intersecting minoritized identities, representation is still close

to zero. For example, out of 59,894 PhDs awarded in physics from 1972-2017 only 90 (0.15%)

went to Black women (Miller, 2019). In this study we explore why it is that inequity continues

when nearly everyone in the field wants change. Specifically we address the basic question, by

Dancy, M. & Hodari, A. “How well-intentioned white male physicists ...” 3

what mechanisms do well-meaning white men uphold white and male supremacy in

physics?

We posit that answering this question requires a lens that is rarely utilized, studying those who

hold the most privilege and therefore the most power to shape the culture and structures that

maintain inequity, i.e. white men. Yet, the majority of research and intervention projects focus

on those who hold the least power. For example, efforts to increase representation typically

focus on increasing interest and preparation among underrepresented groups (Hill, 2010),

including support structures such as bridging programs, mentorship, and financial support

(Dickens, 2021, Ashley 2017), and inclusive pedagogies (Dewsbury 2019). All of these

interventions are directed at changing those who hold the least power in the system while

leaving those who hold the most power out of the discussion of both the causes and the

solutions to inequity.

We strongly support efforts to better encourage and support the presence and success of those

who have historically been denied access to STEM. However, we are critical of the

corresponding lack of efforts to understand and impact those who have historically been granted

an overabundance of access.

Here we take up the question, what barriers and possibilities are presented by those who hold

privilege and power in dismantling inequity in STEM? Specifically, we use a critical lens to

analyze interviews with 27 self-identified white male physics faculty and graduate students,

probing their knowledge, beliefs and experiences with race and gender issues in the context of

physics. Through the lens of critical discourse analysis, we look not just at the conscious

intention of the expression of these men, but at the impact of the words they use and the belief

system underlying how they engage as white men in a racialized and sexualized society. We

analyze how the words they use convey power and lead to their complicity in racism and

sexism.

A note on language and focus.

The topic we undertake is very complex and ideas are constantly evolving. In order to focus and

engage in discourse we need to simplify concepts that are not simple. We focus our study on

understanding privilege as it applies in the contexts of gender and race. There are many other

contexts in which the oppression/privilege dynamic is salient in both society and in physics.

Individuals experience unfair access to opportunity based on many different attributes beyond

race and gender such as disability, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, age,

class, religious affiliation, native language, immigration status, and physical appearance. We

acknowledge there are many other identities that also impact a person's experience.

We use the term “people of color” to identify people who experience oppression based on their

real or perceived race. We acknowledge there is debate about the appropriate term to use. The

acceptability of terms is constantly in flux as richer understandings of racial oppression evolve.

We also acknowledge gender is not binary. When we refer to men we mean people who

experience greater opportunity due to their gender or gender expression, i.e. cis men.

Dancy, M. & Hodari, A. “How well-intentioned white male physicists ...” 4

The possibilities and perils of white men as

disruptors of sexism and racism.

There is a large body of DEI-based research focused on the experiences, beliefs, and actions of

people in STEM who hold minoritized identities (e.g., Hill 2010, Blackburn 2017, Estrada 2016).

In contrast, research focused on those with privileged identities is sparse. The dearth of

research focused on understanding the experiences, beliefs and actions of the people who hold

the most power is not mere oversight, but rather illuminates how power influences what

research questions can be asked and of whom (Prescod-Weinstein, 2020, Schiebinger, 2002).

Within STEM, white able-bodied heterosexual men hold intersecting identities of extreme

privilege. They benefit from the highest levels of social inclusion, professional respect, career

advancement opportunities, and annual salary, while experiencing the least harassment at work

(Cech, 2022).

Access to a wide range of advantages supports their persistence in STEM and results in uneven

representation across demographics. Within physics, 64% of bachelor degrees (APS, 2018) are

awarded to white men (81% are awarded to all races of men and 79% are awarded to white

students). The disparity only increases with increasing positions of power. For example, 90% of

full physics professors are men (Porter, 2019). Data on the number of full physics professors of

color is unavailable, but anecdotally, they are sparse. By a large majority, full physics

professors are white men.

White men can confront sexism and racism with less negative

personal consequences and are listened to more than women

and people of color.

Because of the overrepresentation, privilege and access to positions of power white men in

physics hold, they are afforded unique opportunities to impact systems and culture around

them. When people of color and women try to confront racism and sexism they frequently

experience numerous negative consequences while the racism and sexism they were

confronting goes unaddressed. For example, of discrimination complaints filed with the Equal

Employment Opportunity Comission (EEOC) between 2010 and 2017, 82% of complaints

received no form of relief (Jameel, 2019). Data from 2012-2016 indicates that the most likely

outcome (63%) of filing a complaint with the EEOC is for the target of the discrimination to lose

their job (Tomaskovic-Devey, 2021).

Members of minoritized groups who give voice to the sexism and racism they experience and

witness on campus are likely to experience numerous negative consequences. For example,

Kaiser & Miller (2001) found that an African American student complaining about racial

discrimination was viewed as a complainer and evaluated less favorably even when there was

an objective likelihood that the discrimination had occurred. Women and people of color who

Dancy, M. & Hodari, A. “How well-intentioned white male physicists ...” 5

give voice to their oppression are viewed as complainers and troublemakers, told they are

overreacting, experience having their values dismissed and become targets of retaliation

(Gulker, 2013, Kaiser, 2003, Czopp, 2003).

People from privileged groups have very different experiences when confronting oppression.

They experience few negative consequences and are frequently rewarded for their efforts, even

when small (Drury, 2014). For example, in an interview study, Patton & Bondi (2015) found that

white male faculty reported experiencing few negative outcomes as a result of their ally work,

while generally being rewarded on campus by recognition for their efforts. Similarly, Czopp &

Monteith (2003) found that privileged individuals were able to confront bias while eliciting less

irritation and antagonism than their oppressed counterparts. Eliezer & Major (2012) found that

when men confront sexism they are not viewed as complainers as much as women who engage

in the exact same actions.

Importantly, when someone from a privileged group confronts racism or sexism they are much

more likely to be listened to and to have the issue they are confronting addressed. For example,

Czopp & Monteith (2001) found that when a confronter was part of a privileged group they

elicited more guilt and corrective responses from the aggressor. Similarly, Rasinski and Czopp

(2010) found that when a white person confronted racist behavior they were viewed as more

persuasive, and the aggressor viewed as more biased, than when the same behavior was

confronted by a Black person. And Drury (2013) found that targets are taken less seriously, are

less believable and are judged to be more overreactive than privileged members when

confronting prejudice.

Because of their status, white men have the privilege of being able to stand up to racism and

sexism without experiencing the negative impacts that people of color and women face for the

exact some confrontation. They may even experience positive impacts such as professional

recognition for their ally work. And because they are listened to more, the result of their effort is

more likely to see the racism and sexism addressed. It is therefore essential for white men (and

all people in privileged positions) to take an active role in dismantling the unjust, oppressive

structures they themselves benefit from. The cost and risk for them is less and the rewards

greater.

White men’s ignorance leads to their complicity in racism and

sexism even when they are well meaning.

White men are essential for dismantling sexism and racism. However, their privileged status,

while conferring on them the ability to be listened to more and punished less for speaking up,

has not helped them to recognize and respond to oppression around them. This ignorance

results in their support for the status quo even as their intention is to undermine it.

The first step in confronting oppression is to recognize it exists. In this regard white men are

challenged. For example, Dancy et. al. (2020) found that white male undergraduate STEM

majors were far more likely than other undergraduate STEM majors to declare that race and

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Dancy,M.&Hodari,A.“Howwell-intentionedwhitemalephysicists...”1Howwell-intentionedwhitemalephysicistsmaintainignoranceofinequityandjustifyinaction.MelissaDancyWesternMichiganUniversitymelissa.dancy@wmich.eduAprielK.Hodari,EurekaScientific,Inc.AbstractBackground:Wepresentananalysisofinterviewswith27se...

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