PUBLICATIONS
“This book is a must-read for anyone who has wondered why women are still not equally represented in computer science and engineering. I highly recommend this on-the-ground look at what an exclusionary culture can feel like and, importantly, what organizations can do to improve their cultures.”
Sapna Cheryan, Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Washington
Cracking the Bro-Code addresses the increasing public concern as to why people from dominant racial and gender groups have preferential access to positions in computing. I present my ethnographic study of sexism and racism in contemporary computing culture theorized through the analytical frame of the “Bro-Code.” Drawing from feminist STS and anthropology, I share the lived experiences of women, nonbinary individuals, and people of color, including my own experiences in tech, to show that computing has a serious cultural problem.
I connect altruism, computing, race, and gender to advance the theory that social purpose is an important factor to consider in working toward equity in computing. I argue that transforming computing culture from hostile to welcoming has the potential not only to change who produces computing technology, but also the core values of its production, with possible impacts on social applications. Cracking the Bro-Code explains how digital bosses have come to operate in our society, dodging taxes and oversight with impunity, and how some programmers who look like them are enchanted with a sense of divine right. In the context of computing’s powerful influence on the world, I speculate on how the cultural mechanisms in computing workspaces sustaining sexism, harassment, and technocracy—the pervasive belief that computer technology is always needed and always munificent—impact both workers harmed by such violence as well as society at large.
Select Publications
* paper was co-authored with undergraduate students
Carrigan, C., Yen, J., Margherio, C., Horner-Devine, C., Peil, B., Ivy, J., Grant, C., and Riskin, E. (2024). “Collaborative Ethnography and Matters of Care in Counterspaces.” Engaging Science, Technology, and Society 9(3).
Carrigan, C. (2023) Sheltering: Care Tactics for Ethnography Attentive to Intersectionality and Underrepresentation in Technoscience. Catalyst: Feminism, Theory, Technoscience. 9(2). doi.org/10.28968/cftt.v9i2.39368. Access
Carrigan, C. and Wylie C.. (2023) Editorial Introduction: Caring for Equitable Relations in Interdisciplinary Collaborations. Catalyst: Feminism, Theory, Technoscience. 9(2).https://doi.org/10.28968/cftt.v9i2.41070. Access
Carrigan, C., Kwak, S., Yen, J., Horner-Devine, C., Riskin, E., Ivy, J. S., Grant, C., and Margherio, C. (2023). Negotiating Boundaries: An Intersectional Collaboration to Advance Women Academics in Engineering. Engineering Studies. Access
Horner-Devine, C., Carrigan, C., Grant, C., Margherio, C., Mizumori, S., Riskin E., Ivy, J. S., and Yen J. (2022). Peer Coaching Circles for Ongoing Faculty Development. In The Handbook of STEM Faculty Development. Access
* Carrigan, C., Green, M. W., & Rahman-Davies, A. (2021). “The Revolution Will Not Be Supervised:” Consent and Open Secrets in Data Science. Big Data & Society 8(2). DOI: 10.1177/20539517211035673. Access
* Carrigan, C., Krigel, N., Brown, M., & Bardini, M. (2021). Articulating a Succinct Description: An Applied Method for Catalyzing Cultural Change. Human Organization 80(2). DOI: 10.17730/1938-3525-80.2.128. Access
* Carrigan, C., & Bardini, M. (2021). Majorism: Neoliberalism in Student Culture. Anthropology & Education Quarterly 52(1), 42-62. doi: 10.1111/aeq.12361. Access