I think having lots of native English speakers in top positions at EA-aligned organisations is also explained by founder effects. The effective altruism movement started mostly in the UK and US, which have English as the native language, and top positions will tend to be occupied by people who have been in the movement for longer. In addition, as Arepo noted, EA-aligned organisations recruit from top universities, where students are either native English speakers, or speak English pretty well anyway.
In terms of next steps, maybe it would make sense for the EA Survey to include some questions about to which extent linguistic ability is hindering participation in the movement, @David_Moss and @Willem Sleegers?
Thank you Vasco! Yes, I mentioned the founder’s effect in this paragraph, and I agree.
I am uncertain whether asking about participation being hindered is truly where the problem lies, but it should help understand the scale of the problem. There’s also something unseen from the participant side, where people you interact with form judgments about you that you will not be aware of, that are biased. I hope this makes sense. What I mean is: I wouldn’t say that my participation has been hindered due to my linguistic ability, but I am somewhat sure some of my conversation mates have formed impressions of me that are wrong because English is not my native language or culture.
I also think this misses the point that those people have perspectives that could benefit the movement but are not as listened to as they could be.
Thanks for posting, Alix!
I think having lots of native English speakers in top positions at EA-aligned organisations is also explained by founder effects. The effective altruism movement started mostly in the UK and US, which have English as the native language, and top positions will tend to be occupied by people who have been in the movement for longer. In addition, as Arepo noted, EA-aligned organisations recruit from top universities, where students are either native English speakers, or speak English pretty well anyway.
In terms of next steps, maybe it would make sense for the EA Survey to include some questions about to which extent linguistic ability is hindering participation in the movement, @David_Moss and @Willem Sleegers?
Thank you Vasco! Yes, I mentioned the founder’s effect in this paragraph, and I agree.
I am uncertain whether asking about participation being hindered is truly where the problem lies, but it should help understand the scale of the problem. There’s also something unseen from the participant side, where people you interact with form judgments about you that you will not be aware of, that are biased. I hope this makes sense. What I mean is: I wouldn’t say that my participation has been hindered due to my linguistic ability, but I am somewhat sure some of my conversation mates have formed impressions of me that are wrong because English is not my native language or culture.
I also think this misses the point that those people have perspectives that could benefit the movement but are not as listened to as they could be.