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<!DOCTYPE html>
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	<title>Hegemony and Meritocracy Survey</title>
	<meta name="description" content="Hegemony and Meritocracy Survey">
	<link rel="icon" href="survey.jpeg">
	<meta name="author" content="Markus Priede">
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				<ul>
					<li ><a href="index.html">About</a></li>
					<li><a href="surveyhome.html">Take The Survey</a></li>
					<li><a href="results.html">Results</a></li>
					<li><a href="analysis.html">Analysis</a></li>
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<div class="home-content">
    <section class="home-content-blurb">
      <h2 class="home-content-blurb-title">Markus's Reflection</h2>
      <article>
        <p style="font-size:16px;">We chose to create our website and survey project based on hegemony and meritocracy, specifically focusing within the technology sector. Being a white, upper-class, straight male, I feel like I often have not experienced the difficulties that others may face in the tech industry, however, through this project and a semester of learning in LIS 500, I have gained a deeper understanding of the ways in which these systems of power intersect with–and are shaped by–other forms of oppression and privilege. To do this, we wanted to create a space where people could not only learn about the general concepts of hegemony and meritocracy, but also where they could share their own views anonymously, in effort to show that this affects more people than we think, sometimes even those being our close peers.</p>

 <p style="font-size:16px;">In researching hegemony and meritocracy, we had to acknowledge that they do not exist in a vacuum. They intersect with and are molded by racism, sexism, ableism, and classism. Particularly in the tech industry–which we learned has a history of discrimination against marginalized groups through texts like Algorithms of Opression (Noble)–dominating companies still embody many of these values, which are reflected in their actions and products, like the Buzzfeed News article speaking about Facebook’s response in the Kenosha shooting (Mac), and Wired explaining James Damore’s comments on Google’s “diversity war” (Tiku). By studying specific cases like this, we can better understand and address the ways in which these systems disproportionately affect certain groups.</p>

 <p style="font-size:16px;">Further, hegemony is often maintained through systems of meritocracy, which purport to reward individual merit or talent rather than social or group status, however, these systems often reinforce existing power dynamics and discriminate against marginalized groups. For example, the tech industry has long been dominated by white men, and this dominance is often justified through the rhetoric of meritocracy. We learned through videos such as the Ellen Pao clip (PBSNewsHour)and Coded Bias documentary that women and people of color are often held to higher standards, yet face more barriers to advancement than their privileged counterparts, who dominate through hegemonic systems and obscure it through reward based on so-called “merit”.</p>

 <p style="font-size:16px;">This project not only helped me to become more aware of the issues of hegemony and meritocracy in the workplace, but also inspired me to take steps towards a solution. By creating a survey where people could share their own perspectives on these issues, and see other user’s results (anonymously), we can highlight areas that are in greater disagreement to the general public, and perhaps better understand the ways in which hegemony and meritocracy intersect with other forms of oppression by analyzing the users’ backgrounds and connecting them to answers.</p>

	 <p style="font-size:16px;">Differences and challenges related to technology and people’s lives arose even in a work environment like this one. One of the main obstacles we were initially faced with using WordPress was that it did not satisfy our standard for making the website we wanted without upgrading to a premium plan or version. This required paying $40 to unlock certain features and install plug-ins. While we were all capable of pitching in $10 each, after abandoning WordPress, it definitely opened my eyes to how this could be a real-world issue in technology, where less financially stable people do not have access to the same resources as those who are, meaning the power often still resides in white, privileged hands to determine the direction of a product. Another issue that was brought to my attention during this project were people’s other commitments. Of course we all occasionally face scheduling conflicts, however we do not always know the significance of those conflicts, or that they may not just be occasional, but a daily routine. More broadly thinking about intersectionality, a coworker or teammate may not have the same freedom to work on a project whenever they want due to additional responsibilities to sustain their lifestyle, like working another job or attending therapy sessions for their disability. In our specific group, however, I feel like we did a good job accommodating to all members and their time.</p>

 <p style="font-size:16px;">Overall, working on this project and learning more about hegemony and meritocracy in technology has taught me about the ways it usually operates, as well as made me understand my own privilege better. Taking results from our survey, further steps might include analyzing them and presenting data in effort to create a more inclusive and equitable tech industry.</p>

 <p style="font-size:16px;">References:<br>
    Mac, Ryan. “Facebook Employees Are Outraged at Mark Zuckerberg's Explanations of How It Handled the Kenosha Violence.” BuzzFeed News, BuzzFeed News, 28 Aug. 2020, https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanmac/facebook-employees-slam-zuckerberg-kenosha-militia-shooting. Accessed 19th, Dec. 2022<br>
    Noble, Safiya Umoja. Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism. New York University Press, 2018.<br>
    PBSNewsHour, director. YouTube, YouTube, 28 Sept. 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Yno_3NxEsw. Accessed 20 Dec. 2022. Accessed 20 Dec. 2022. <br>
    Tiku, Nitasha. ‘The Dirty War Over Diversity Inside Google’. Wired. www.wired.com,https://www.wired.com/story/the-dirty-war-over-diversity-inside-google.</p>

      </article>
    </section>
     <section class="home-content-blurb">
            <h2 class="home-content-blurb-title">Individual Essays</h2>
            <article id="group-members-container">
            	<ul style="line-height: 1.5;">
                <li><a href="markus.html" style="color: darkslategray;">
                    Markus's Reflection
                </a></li>
                <li><a href="akarsh.html" style="color: darkslategray;">
                    Akarsh's Reflection
                </a></li>
                <li><a href="anwita.html" style="color: darkslategray;">
                    Anwita's Reflection
                </a></li>
                <li><a href="irasema.html" style="color: darkslategray;">
                    Irasema's Reflection
                </a></li>
              </ul>
            </article>
        </section>
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        		<br>Survey created by Akarsh, Anwita, Irasema, and Markus
        		<br>LIS 500
        		<br>University of Wisconsin-Madison

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