The Injustice of Fairness

Algorithmic Reparation and the Case for Redress

Jenny L. Davis, Apryl A. Williams (Autoren)

Buch | Softcover

170 Seiten

2026
University of California Press (Verlag)
978-0-520-41829-5 (ISBN)

Noch nicht erschienen (ca. Juni 2026)
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The Injustice of Fairness shifts the foundation of algorithmic ethics, displacing “fairness” with repair and redress. A substantial and growing field, algorithmic ethics aims to mitigate harms and realize social good. The fairness paradigm dominates this field across AI, machine learning, and other data-driven domains. So far, efforts toward fairness have been unsuccessful, with algorithmic harms that propagate and persist. Davis and Williams explain why algorithmic fairness perpetually fails and present “algorithmic reparation” in its place.

The stakes are high because algorithms are everywhere—from law to love, healthcare to housing, education to media, and beyond. More than lines of code or mathematical operations, algorithms carry history, configure the present, and are actively shaping the future. Set against a backdrop of societal instability and technological transformation, The Injustice of Fairness offers a careful critique, original framework, and blueprint for social change with algorithms as entry points and levers.

Jenny L. Davis is Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Chair and Professor of Sociology at Vanderbilt University and Honorary Professor of Sociology at the Australian National University. Blending sociology with tech studies, she explores the ways design shapes society and society shapes design. Her previous book, How Artifacts Afford, decodes how politics and power are embedded in everyday technologies. Apryl A. Williams is Associate Professor of Digital Studies and Communication at the University of Michigan and Faculty Associate at Harvard University's Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society. Her previous book, Not My Type, offers a powerful critique of how technology replicates and amplifies real-world social inequities in digital culture.

Contents

Introduction

Part One

1. What's Wrong with Fairness?

2. Toward a Reparative Research Program

Part Two

Interlude: Speculative Design for Reparative Algorithmic Futures

3. Speculative Design I: Pik | A Reparative Dating App for Black Women and Femmes

4. Speculative Design II: The Power-to-Prove Legal Paradigm

Part Three

5. Obstacles and Inroads

Conclusion

Acknowledgments

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Erscheint lt. Verlag	2.6.2026
Zusatzinfo	3 tables, 1 b-w figure
Verlagsort	Berkerley
Sprache	englisch
Maße	140 x 216 mm
Themenwelt	Mathematik / Informatik ► Informatik
	Naturwissenschaften
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie
ISBN-10	0-520-41829-8 / 0520418298
ISBN-13	978-0-520-41829-5 / 9780520418295
Zustand	Neuware