Humanities and Social Sciences in Engineering Education: From Irrelevance to Social Justice

This chapter discusses how the concepts of Humanities and Social Science (HSS) in the engineering curriculum historically fall prey to the ways in which engineering educators distanced themselves from the pressing social problems of the twentieth century. Building on that brief historical foundation, the chapter explores the ways in which the Cold War and the anti‐technology movement, fueled by sentiments against the Vietnam War and the questioning of the Apollo program's relevance in the midst of urban and environmental problems, further marginalized HSS from playing a more central role in engineering education. The chapter provides various curricular innovations that have emerged at this historical convergence of landscapes, and then delves into three HSS curricular examples that engage the Engineering for Social Justice (E4SJ) criteria: the courses "Engineering and Social Justice", "Intercultural Communication", and "Document Design and Graphics" (DDAG). It also provides benefits and limitations of rendering visible connections between engineering and SJ in HSS courses.