Jingyi Wu (LSE Philosophy): ‘Rigor Capture’

Abstract: In the foundations of physics and other formal disciplines, women and some racial minorities often feel a need to meet an elevated standard for rigor in their work. This is plausibly an adaptive response to negative stereotypes about technical competence based on their social identities. This phenomenon is arguably an instance of respectability politics: a political strategy wherein members of a marginalized community consciously conform to prescribed mainstream standards in order to assimilate. I will argue that this strategy, though reasonable (and sometimes necessary!) as a survival mechanism, has undesirable consequences. Notably, it leads to a case of “rigor capture” that is analogous to elite capture (Taiwo 2022): it benefits the “elites” within the marginalized community who already have a propensity for technically rigorous work, and/or have resources to receive rigorous training in technical work. Those less well-resourced within the marginalized community who have a propensity for “qualitative” work are further marginalized. Moreover, this phenomenon can arise even without actual negative stereotyping, so long as members of the marginalized community expect negative stereotyping. Rigor capture, similar to elite capture, does not transform social structures for the better.