1st Edition
The Algorithmic Society Technology, Power, and Knowledge
We live in an algorithmic society. Algorithms have become the main mediator through which power is enacted in our society. This book brings together three academic fields – Public Administration, Criminal Justice and Urban Governance – into a single conceptual framework, and offers a broad cultural-political analysis, addressing critical and ethical issues of algorithms.
Governments are increasingly turning towards algorithms to predict criminality, deliver public services, allocate resources, and calculate recidivism rates. Mind-boggling amounts of data regarding our daily actions are analysed to make decisions that manage, control, and nudge our behaviour in everyday life. The contributions in this book offer a broad analysis of the mechanisms and social implications of algorithmic governance. Reporting from the cutting edge of scientific research, the result is illuminating and useful for understanding the relations between algorithms and power.Topics covered include:
- Algorithmic governmentality
- Transparency and accountability
- Fairness in criminal justice and predictive policing
- Principles of good digital administration
- Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the smart city
This book is essential reading for students and scholars of Sociology, Criminology, Public Administration, Political Sciences, and Cultural Theory interested in the integration of algorithms into the governance of society.
1 The algorithmic society: An introduction 1
RIK PEETERS AND MARC SCHUILENBURG
PART I
Algorithmic governance 17
2 Governing by algorithms and algorithmic governmentality: Towards machinic judgement 19
PAUL HENMAN
3 Algorithmic regulation: Machine learning as a governance tool 35
CARY COGLIANESE
4 Responsible and accountable algorithmization: How to generate citizen trust in governmental usage of algorithms 53
ALBERT MEIJER AND STEPHAN GRIMMELIKHUIJSEN
5 Towards principles of good digital administration: Fairness, accountability and proportionality in automated decision-making 67
ARJAN WIDLAK, MARLIES VAN ECK AND RIK PEETERS
PART II
Algorithmic justice 85
6 The seductiveness of fairness: Is machine learning the answer? – Algorithmic fairness in criminal justice systems 87
FERNANDO ÁVILA, KELLY HANNAH-MOFFAT AND PAULA MAURUTTO
7 Rethinking predictive policing: Towards a holistic framework of democratic algorithmic surveillance 104
ROSAMUNDE VAN BRAKEL
8 Algorithmic reasoning: The production of subjectivity through data 119
GWEN VAN EIJK
PART III
Algorithmic cities 135
9 Smart city imaginaries: Looking beyond the techno-utopian vision 137
MARC SCHUILENBURG AND BRUNILDA PALI
10 Sense in the (smart) city: Where personalisation is the political 154
MICHAEL McGUIRE
11 Five smart city futures: A criminological analysis of urban intelligence 172
KEITH HAYWARD
12 Understanding the algorithmic society: Concluding thoughts 193
MARC SCHUILENBURG AND RIK PEETERS
Biography
Marc Schuilenburg is Professor at the Department of Criminal Law and Criminology, VU University Amsterdam.
Rik Peeters is Research Professor of public administration at the Centre for Research and Teaching in Economics (CIDE), Mexico City.
‘We urgently need sharp questions, better concepts, bold thinking and sensible proposals to make progress on the fundamental ambivalence of the rise of the use of algorithms in key areas of public policy: algorithms can make government smarter and more efficient - ànd they can generate a heap of unpleasant unintended consequences. This volume provides us with the analytical tools and careful reasoning that are required to come to terms with one of the most pervasive agents of change in our societies today.’
Paul 't Hart, Utrecht University School of Governance
‘Algorithms have become key mediators of everyday life. Yet we are still grappling to understand their operations and effects. This timely book provides a thorough, insightful and richly illustrated analysis of algorithmic power, and is essential reading for those seeking to comprehend how algorithmic governance works in practice and why it matters.’
Rob Kitchin, Maynooth University Social Sciences Institute
