Description |
1 online resource |
Summary |
From everyday apps to complex algorithms, Ruha Benjamin cuts through tech-industry hype to understand how emerging technologies can reinforce White supremacy and deepen social inequity. Benjamin argues that automation, far from being a sinister story of racist programmers scheming on the dark web, has the potential to hide, speed up, and deepen discrimination while appearing neutral and even benevolent when compared to the racism of a previous era. Presenting the concept of the “New Jim Code,” she shows how a range of discriminatory designs encode inequity by explicitly amplifying racial hierarchies; by ignoring but thereby replicating social divisions; or by aiming to fix racial bias but ultimately doing quite the opposite. Moreover, she makes a compelling case for race itself as a kind of technology, designed to stratify and sanctify social injustice in the architecture of everyday life. This illuminating guide provides conceptual tools for decoding tech promises with sociologically informed skepticism. In doing so, it challenges us to question not only the technologies we are sold but also the ones we ourselves manufacture. |
Reproduction |
Electronic reproduction. New York : Polity, 2019. Requires OverDrive Read (file size: N/A KB) or Adobe Digital Editions (file size: 1033 KB) or Kobo app or compatible Kobo device (file size: N/A KB) or Amazon Kindle (file size: N/A KB). |
Subject |
Digital divide -- United States -- 21st century. |
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Information technology -- Social aspect -- United States -- 21st century.Sociology
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Genre |
Electronic books.
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Other Form: |
Original 9781509526390 |
ISBN |
9781509526437 (electronic bk) |
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