Race After Technology : : Abolitionist Tools for the new Jim Code

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Call Number: 303.48 Be, Black Studies 303.48 Be
On Shelf At: Downtown Library

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	303.48 Be	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	Black Studies 303.48 Be	4-week checkout	On Shelf

Engineered inequity -- Default discrimination -- Coded exposure -- Technological benevolence -- Retooling solidarity, reimagining justice.
"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. Far from a sinister story of racist programmers scheming on the dark web, Benjamin argues that automation has the potential to hide, speed, and even deepen discrimination, while appearing neutral and even benevolent when compared to 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 tool a technology designed to stratify and sanctify social injustice that is part of the architecture of everyday life. This illuminating guide into the world of biased bots, altruistic algorithms, and their many entanglements provides conceptual tools to decode 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 manufacture ourselves"-- Provided by publisher.
"Cutting through tech-industry hype, this book explores how emerging technologies reinforce white supremacy. Conceptualizing the "New Jim Code," Benjamin shows how discriminatory designs can encode inequity and also makes a case for race itself as a kind of tool designed to stratify and sanctify social injustice"-- Provided by publisher.

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Thought inspiring submitted by crp on August 29, 2019, 11:57pm Ruha Benjamin visited UofM earlier this year- amazing speaker and this translates into her writing. Highly valuable though provoking material!

New connections submitted by ack on August 1, 2020, 7:25pm Race After Technology does not cover new ground if you're familiar with work on race and technology, but it's a great introduction to many of the conversations going (which Benjamin has helped shape in prior scholarship). The book itself is a quick and engaging read.