Race After Technology

Winner of the ASA Section on Racial and Ethnic Minorities Oliver Cromwell Cox Best Book Award 2020 Awarded Honorable Mention in the ASA Communication, Information Technologies, and Media Sociology Section's Book Award 2020 Race After Technology is a brilliant, beautifully argued, engagingly written, and groundbreaking work. Ruha Benjamin is that rare scholar whose sophisticated understanding of science and technology is matched by her deep knowledge of race and racialization. Here she guides us into fresh terrain for understanding and tackling the persistence of racial inequality. This book should be read by everyone committed to creating a more just world. Imani Perry, Princeton University, author of Vexy Thing and Looking for Lorraine Race After Technology is essential reading, decoding as it does the ever-expanding and morphing technologies that have infiltrated our everyday lives and our most powerful institutions. These digital tools predictably replicate and deepen racial hierarchies - all too often strengthening rather than undermining pervasive systems of racial and social control. Michelle Alexander, Union Theological Seminary, author of The New Jim Crow Powerful yet accessible, [...] it is the foundation for an expanded, critical conversation about the meaning of technology in society that desperately calls for greater attention, both academic and activist. Antipode Online Benjamin's work is ideal for anyone who is unafraid to look at the historical intersections of racial injustice, technology, and where these topics inform possible solutions for the future. Library Journal [I]mpactfully written, well researched and refreshingly clear [...] Simply said, Race After Technology will become a staple in contemporary critical thinking at a time when it is most needed. Marx and Philosophy Shines light on an important issue Morning Star Ruha Benjamin contributes to our understanding of the dangers of racism in the 21st century in her illuminating account of how racism and inequality underpin new technologies. Benjamin reminds us that racism is everywhere - and by its very nature not only seeps into technological advances but is part of how they are designed. Times Higher Education What's ultimately distinctive about Race After Technology is that its withering critiques of the present are so galvanizing... This is perhaps Benjamin's greatest feat in the book: Her inventive and wide-ranging analyses remind us that as much as we try to purge ourselves from our tools and view them as external to our flaws, they are always extensions of us. As exacting a worldview as that is, it is also inclusive and hopeful. The Nation What sets her [book] apart is not her lucid, clear and engaging writing style but rather her broad empirical scope which covers examples from digital security and surveillance infrastructures right through to search engines and AI-powered beauty apps. They are exemplify what Benjamin calls the new Jim Code. Ethnic and Racial Studies Benjamin has broken new ground with this volume, which is a crucial read for a wide audience, including novice consumers of technology all the way to the most experienced coders and creators. Choice 9781509526390?