Ethical Reasoning in Tech Work
From Individual Responsibility to Collective Action
Time: Fri 2026-05-08 14.00
Location: Q2, Malvinas Väg 10
Language: English
Subject area: Human-computer Interaction
Doctoral student: Kristina Popova , Medieteknik och interaktionsdesign
Opponent: Professor Katie Shilton, Medieteknik och interaktionsdesign, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, US
Supervisor: Associate Professor Robert Comber, ; Professor Airi Lampinen, Stockholm University, Institutionen för data- och systemvetenskap, 164 25 Kista; Professor Kristina Höök, Medieteknik och interaktionsdesign
QC 20260413
Abstract
Technology production is a complex process that requires the accumulation of resources and in which very little is done individually. Given the fragmentation of tech development and the limits of individual action, how much can tech workers affect the tech they produce? Do they care about the tech they are building and its implications for the world? Who should act to ensure that technology is “ethical”? What are the possibilities for individual and collective action that exist in tech workplaces? These are the questions I aim to answer in my dissertation.
This dissertation is an interdisciplinary project connecting four studies with the methods from design research, ethnomethodology and sociology. The papers are published within the fields of human-computer interaction (HCI) and computer supported cooperative work (CSCW) and positioned within the tradition of studying ethics in practice, which approaches ethics by studying the work practices in specific tech organisations. Theoretically, my work is grounded in the philosophical tradition of ethics of care with its focus on concrete situated actions instead of omnirelevant rules, in the ethnomethodological tradition of respecifying theoretical phenomena as matters of practice, and in moral anthropology with its focus on ethics as shaped by communities.
The four papers combined in the thesis explore the ethical reasoning of tech practitioners in academic settings, government officials working with AI in Sweden, and technology practitioners working in commercial companies in Europe. I rely on a variety of qualitative data: (1) a video-ethnography of design ideation sessions at the university; (2) an interview-study of ethical responsibility by tech practitioners in academia, governmental sector and the industry; (3) a a workshop-based study of voicing discomfort (critique) in a design workshop with academic; (4) an interview-based study of ethics discourses in tech companies in Europe. The studies contribute to design and HCI with an empirical research of ethical reasoning in everyday design work.
The thesis aims to advance an anthropological, human-centred take on ethics in HCI. I argue in favour of including affect and emotion of tech practitioners into the discussion on ethics in HCI and emphasise the limitations of an individualistic take on ethics. Affect is important for connecting the level of everyday practices with structural power relations. Understanding the limitations of individual action and focusing on the potential for collective action instead is important for balancing responsibility with power. This thesis also draws attention to the inequality within the tech sector as a factor that hinders the possibility for forming a shared agenda and engaging in collective action.