SOCIAL SCIENCES

Automating Inequality: How High-Tech Tools Profile, Police, and Punish the Poor

by Virginia Eubanks
St. Martin's. Jan. 2018. 272p. notes. bibliog. index. ISBN 9781250074317. $26.99; ebk. ISBN 9781466885967. POL SCI
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Using story after devastating story, Eubanks (women's studies; Univ. at Albany, State Univ. of New York; Digital Dead End: Fighting for Social Justice in the Information Age) provides a tour of the algorithms, data mining practices, and predictive risk models that increasingly (and often arbitrarily) target poor and working-class Americans for scrutiny and punishment. Big data systems (often operated for profit by the private sector) are sold to local governments as neutral, efficient replacements for human decision-makers but have the effect of diverting services from and criminalizing the poor. Eubanks's advocacy for the Americans impacted by this trend is passionate and matched by incisive analysis and bolstered by impressive research.
VERDICT An important contribution to the growing literature sounding the alarm on the consequences of automating social policy and the dangers of big data. Eubanks's writing is clear and approachable and her use of narrative will appeal to general readers while being essential for policymakers and academics.
Reviewed by Rachel Bridgewater, Portland Community Coll. Lib., OR , Feb 01, 2018
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