Theorizing &amp; Researching <i>Class</i> for Broadening Participation in Computing Efforts

Race and gender are crucial concepts in the computer science (CS) education research community's broadening participation efforts and scholarship. They help to critique the ways that white supremacy, anti-Blackness, and patriarchy structure and discipline CS classrooms and workplaces. In addition, attention to race and gender has helped to reimagine and redesign CS education to be more culturally responsive and sustaining for marginalized students. This panel builds on these foundational efforts by starting a conversation about what a more intentional focus on the concept of class and its connections to political economy can offer researchers and educators who are committed to more race and gender inclusivity, diversity, and equity in CS education across primary, secondary, and post-secondary levels. What might the concept introduce into intersectional analyses of the exclusionary structures of the education-to-workforce CS ''pipeline''? How might class be defined to help redesign CS education to affirm the identities of racially marginalized students from working class communities? How might the language of class provide new insights into the ways that racism, sexism, and ableism shape CS education? What might the operationalization of the concept help to reveal about the economic interests that underpin mainstream CS curricula and education policies? And how might class help CS professionals and educators understand their own social positions? Through a discussion with researchers and practitioners from different disciplinary backgrounds and theoretical orientations, this panel seeks to provide a foundation for more intentional and rigorous engagements with the concept of class within the CS education research community.