Lincoln Network, a Bold partner, is launching an effort to examine ideological diversity in Silicon Valley and the tech industry. While the tech industry is well known for prioritizing workforces with diverse gender and ethnic backgrounds, some have questioned whether individuals with conservative and libertarian ideologies are welcome at the industry’s biggest and brightest companies.
The issue has received prominence in light of recent lawsuits against Google alleging bias against conservative and libertarian worldviews. This winter, Lincoln Network conducted a survey of nearly 400 employees throughout the tech industry to gain insights into how employees feel about the industry’s openness to different political ideologies.
The full results will be released shortly, and today on Fox Business Networks’s “Mornings With Maria,” Bold Founder Carrie Sheffield highlighted the Lincoln Network survey, the significance of the industry lacking ideological diversity and its potential implications.
Check out @JoinLincoln partner @carriesheffield discussing our Viewpoint Diversity Survey on @FoxBusiness this morning. https://t.co/0RMxqLMZmm
Results coming later this month– follow along here: https://t.co/PrSNQ0KcvJ@BoldGlobalMedia #Viewpoint #Diversity #diversityintech— Lincoln Network (@JoinLincoln) January 17, 2018
“The level of bias that these [libertarian and conservative] employees feel in the Valley, they can’t speak up, and you also see conservative publications and conservative news outlets getting censored,” Sheffield said.
Plenty of anecdotes have emerged suggesting the industry is more friendly towards liberal political beliefs than conservative ones but, until now, solid data has been lacking. Garrett Johnson, a Co-Founder of Lincoln Network, wrote in an essay for Medium that, “These anecdotes are important, but more data is needed to understand whether viewpoint bias exists and what the implications may be. As an initial step to address this shortfall, Lincoln Network built a survey to better understand viewpoint diversity in tech’s epicenter.”
