Sharla Alegria
Biographic Data
| ID | 189138 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Sharla Alegria |
| GIVEN NAMES | Sharla |
| FAMILY NAME | Alegria |
| SIGNATURE | ALEGRIA S |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Toronto |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-4388-9797 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 10 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 117 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 10 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2012 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Time Won't Give Me Time
Drawing on theories of gendered and racialized organizations and research on racialization and citizenship, we weave together an intersectional understanding of gendered racial meaning making in tech work. We focus on workers' control over time, an important point of overlap between gendered and racialized organizations theories. Based on interviews with 85 tech workers who are either U.S. workers or Indian men in the United States with temporary…
Machine Learning and the Reproduction of Inequality
Machine learning is the process behind increasingly pervasive and often proprietary tools like ChatGPT, facial recognition, and predictive policing programs. But these artificial intelligence programs are only as good as their training data. When the data smuggle in a host of racial, gender, and other inequalities, biased outputs become the norm
Latinas on the Line
Five Big Ideas About AI
Massive investments in artificial intelligence (AI) have sparked a renewed debate over its impact on how we live, learn, and work. The last few years have also seen a burst of critical sociology about AI, pushing the conversation toward a deeper understanding of structural and intersectional inequalities. Here, we offer five big ideas that highlight what is distinctive about the emerging sociology of AI
Toward a Sociology of Artificial Intelligence
This article outlines a research agenda for a sociology of artificial intelligence (AI). The authors review two areas in which sociological theories and methods have made significant contributions to the study of inequalities and AI: (1) the politics of algorithms, data, and code and (2) the social shaping of AI in practice. The authors contrast sociological approaches that emphasize intersectional inequalities and social structure with other dis…
What do we mean by broadening participation? Race, inequality, and diversity in tech work
In this article, I review the literature on race and racism in tech work and show that challenges related to increasing diversity and inclusion for racial and ethnic minorities are complicated and shaped by both immigration regimes and gender inequalities that do not impact all minority workers the same. I show that people of color are especially likely to be excluded from decision‐making leadership positions, limiting contributions that would sh…
Gender Pay Gaps in U.S. Federal Science Agencies
This study advances understanding of gender pay gaps by examining organizational variation. The gender pay gap literature supplies mechanisms but does not attend to organizational variation; the gender and science literature provides insights on the role of masculinist culture in disciplines but misses pay gap mechanisms. A data set of federal workers allows comparison of men and women in the same jobs and workplaces. Agencies associated with tra…
Escalator or Step Stool? Gendered Labor and Token Processes in Tech Work
Gender scholars use the metaphor of the 'glass escalator' to describe a tendency for men in women-dominated workplaces to be promoted into supervisory positions. More recently, scholars, including the metaphor's original author, critique the glass escalator metaphor for not addressing the intersections of gender with other relevant identities or the ways that work has changed in the twenty-first century. I apply an intersectional lens to understa…
How Diversity Matters in the US Science and Engineering Workforce
How the race and gender diversity of team members is related to innovative science and technology outcomes is debated in the scholarly literature. Some studies find diversity is linked to creativity and productivity, other studies find that diversity has no effect or even negative effects on team outcomes. Based on a critical review of the literature, this paper explains the seemingly contradictory findings through careful attention to the organi…
Constructing racial difference through group talk
Overtly racist statements are socially and politically unacceptable in the USA. Yet black people in the USA continue to experience discrimination and prejudice at both the individual and institutional levels. This paper examines white people's talk about race in focus groups from the North Carolina Traffic Violation Study. The participants discussed race obliquely, by talking about hypothetical behaviour related to crime and police profiling whil…
Toward a Sociology of Artificial Intelligence
This article outlines a research agenda for a sociology of artificial intelligence (AI). The authors review two areas in which sociological theories and methods have made significant contributions to the study of inequalities and AI: (1) the politics of algorithms, data, and code and (2) the social shaping of AI in practice. The authors contrast sociological approaches that emphasize intersectional inequalities and social structure with other dis…
Escalator or Step Stool? Gendered Labor and Token Processes in Tech Work
Gender scholars use the metaphor of the 'glass escalator' to describe a tendency for men in women-dominated workplaces to be promoted into supervisory positions. More recently, scholars, including the metaphor's original author, critique the glass escalator metaphor for not addressing the intersections of gender with other relevant identities or the ways that work has changed in the twenty-first century. I apply an intersectional lens to understa…
Gender Pay Gaps in U.S. Federal Science Agencies
This study advances understanding of gender pay gaps by examining organizational variation. The gender pay gap literature supplies mechanisms but does not attend to organizational variation; the gender and science literature provides insights on the role of masculinist culture in disciplines but misses pay gap mechanisms. A data set of federal workers allows comparison of men and women in the same jobs and workplaces. Agencies associated with tra…
What do we mean by broadening participation? Race, inequality, and diversity in tech work
In this article, I review the literature on race and racism in tech work and show that challenges related to increasing diversity and inclusion for racial and ethnic minorities are complicated and shaped by both immigration regimes and gender inequalities that do not impact all minority workers the same. I show that people of color are especially likely to be excluded from decision‐making leadership positions, limiting contributions that would sh…
Constructing racial difference through group talk
Overtly racist statements are socially and politically unacceptable in the USA. Yet black people in the USA continue to experience discrimination and prejudice at both the individual and institutional levels. This paper examines white people's talk about race in focus groups from the North Carolina Traffic Violation Study. The participants discussed race obliquely, by talking about hypothetical behaviour related to crime and police profiling whil…
Time Won't Give Me Time
Drawing on theories of gendered and racialized organizations and research on racialization and citizenship, we weave together an intersectional understanding of gendered racial meaning making in tech work. We focus on workers' control over time, an important point of overlap between gendered and racialized organizations theories. Based on interviews with 85 tech workers who are either U.S. workers or Indian men in the United States with temporary…
Latinas on the Line
Constructing racial difference through group talk
Overtly racist statements are socially and politically unacceptable in the USA. Yet black people in the USA continue to experience discrimination and prejudice at both the individual and institutional levels. This paper examines white people's talk about race in focus groups from the North Carolina Traffic Violation Study. The participants discussed race obliquely, by talking about hypothetical behaviour related to crime and police profiling whil…
How Diversity Matters in the US Science and Engineering Workforce
How the race and gender diversity of team members is related to innovative science and technology outcomes is debated in the scholarly literature. Some studies find diversity is linked to creativity and productivity, other studies find that diversity has no effect or even negative effects on team outcomes. Based on a critical review of the literature, this paper explains the seemingly contradictory findings through careful attention to the organi…
Gender Pay Gaps in U.S. Federal Science Agencies
This study advances understanding of gender pay gaps by examining organizational variation. The gender pay gap literature supplies mechanisms but does not attend to organizational variation; the gender and science literature provides insights on the role of masculinist culture in disciplines but misses pay gap mechanisms. A data set of federal workers allows comparison of men and women in the same jobs and workplaces. Agencies associated with tra…
Escalator or Step Stool? Gendered Labor and Token Processes in Tech Work
Gender scholars use the metaphor of the 'glass escalator' to describe a tendency for men in women-dominated workplaces to be promoted into supervisory positions. More recently, scholars, including the metaphor's original author, critique the glass escalator metaphor for not addressing the intersections of gender with other relevant identities or the ways that work has changed in the twenty-first century. I apply an intersectional lens to understa…
What do we mean by broadening participation? Race, inequality, and diversity in tech work
In this article, I review the literature on race and racism in tech work and show that challenges related to increasing diversity and inclusion for racial and ethnic minorities are complicated and shaped by both immigration regimes and gender inequalities that do not impact all minority workers the same. I show that people of color are especially likely to be excluded from decision‐making leadership positions, limiting contributions that would sh…
Toward a Sociology of Artificial Intelligence
This article outlines a research agenda for a sociology of artificial intelligence (AI). The authors review two areas in which sociological theories and methods have made significant contributions to the study of inequalities and AI: (1) the politics of algorithms, data, and code and (2) the social shaping of AI in practice. The authors contrast sociological approaches that emphasize intersectional inequalities and social structure with other dis…
Five Big Ideas About AI
Massive investments in artificial intelligence (AI) have sparked a renewed debate over its impact on how we live, learn, and work. The last few years have also seen a burst of critical sociology about AI, pushing the conversation toward a deeper understanding of structural and intersectional inequalities. Here, we offer five big ideas that highlight what is distinctive about the emerging sociology of AI
Machine Learning and the Reproduction of Inequality
Machine learning is the process behind increasingly pervasive and often proprietary tools like ChatGPT, facial recognition, and predictive policing programs. But these artificial intelligence programs are only as good as their training data. When the data smuggle in a host of racial, gender, and other inequalities, biased outputs become the norm
Latinas on the Line
Time Won't Give Me Time
Drawing on theories of gendered and racialized organizations and research on racialization and citizenship, we weave together an intersectional understanding of gendered racial meaning making in tech work. We focus on workers' control over time, an important point of overlap between gendered and racialized organizations theories. Based on interviews with 85 tech workers who are either U.S. workers or Indian men in the United States with temporary…
Sociology (8 works) · Psychology (5 works) · Computer Science (4 works) · Gender Studies (4 works) · Inequality (4 works) · Political science (4 works) · Social Psychology (4 works) · Digital Economy and Work Transformation (3 works) · Economics (3 works) · Ethics and Social Impacts of AI (3 works)