Automating Inequality

In Indiana, one million people lose their healthcare, food stamps, and cash benefits in three years-because a new computer system interprets any application mistake as "failure to cooperate." In Los Angeles, an algorithm calculates the comparative vulnerability of tens of thousands of homeless people in order to prioritize them for a shrinking pool of housing resources. In Pittsburgh, a child welfare agency uses a statistical model to try to predict which children might be future victims of abuse or neglect. Since the dawn of the digital age, decision-making in finance, employment, politics, health and human services has undergone revolutionary change. Today, automated systems control which neighborhoods get policed, which families attain resources, and who is investigated for fraud. While we all live under this new regime of data, the most invasive and punitive systems are aimed at the poor.

Product details

• Authors: Virginia Eubanks
• Publisher: Macmillan USA
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 31.01.2018
• EAN: 9781250074317
• ISBN: 978-1-250-07431-7
• No. of pages: 288
• Dimensions: 145 mm x 217 mm x 25 mm
• Subjects: Non-fiction book; Social sciences, law, business > Sociology > Sociological theories; Ethnic Studies, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Poverty & Homelessness, HISTORY / Social History, Social & cultural history, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Human Services, Poverty & unemployment, Social welfare & social services, Social and cultural history, Ethical issues & debates, Social classes, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Social Classes & Economic Disparity, information architecture, Ethical & social aspects of IT, Black & Asian Studies, COMPUTERS / Computer Architecture, Database design and theory, Housing & homelessness, Poverty and precarity, Housing and homelessness, COMPUTERS / Social Aspects, COMPUTERS / Database Administration & Management, Relating to African American / Black American people, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Cultural & Ethnic Studies / General, Database design & theory, Ethnic studies / Ethnicity, Ethical issues, topics and debates, Social welfare, social policy and social services