Captivating Technology

Captivating Technology examines the intersection of race, carceral systems, and technology through essays by scholars across multiple disciplines. The collection, edited by Ruha Benjamin, explores how innovation and tech-based solutions often reinforce discriminatory practices and social control. The contributors analyze surveillance systems, predictive algorithms, ankle monitors, and other technologies deployed in prisons, schools, and communities. Through case studies and research, they document how these tools impact marginalized populations and perpetuate racial inequalities. The book moves beyond critique to imagine alternative technological futures and forms of resistance. It proposes ways that technology could be redirected toward liberation and justice rather than oppression. The essays reveal how technological "progress" cannot be separated from historical patterns of racism and control in American society. This collection challenges readers to question the assumed neutrality of innovation and consider who benefits from new surveillance tools.

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Race After Technology by Ruha Benjamin Examines how racial discrimination becomes embedded in the design of technological systems and digital architectures.

Algorithms of Oppression by Safiya Noble Investigates how search engines and algorithms perpetuate discrimination and reinforce systemic biases against women of color.

Automating Inequality by Virginia Eubanks Explores how data mining, policy algorithms, and predictive risk models affect poor and working-class communities.

Dark Matters: On the Surveillance of Blackness by Simone Browne Traces the history of surveillance from slave ships to present-day technologies and their impact on Black communities.

Behind the Screen by Sarah T. Roberts Reveals the hidden human labor of content moderators who shape social media platforms while bearing psychological costs.

🔍 Author Ruha Benjamin is a professor of African American Studies at Princeton University and founded the IDA B. WELLS Just Data Lab, which challenges discrimination in data science. 📚 The book examines how technology often reinforces racial hierarchies while appearing neutral, exploring examples from predictive policing to healthcare algorithms. 🌟 "Captivating Technology" won the 2020 Oliver Cromwell Cox Book Award from the American Sociological Association's Section on Racial and Ethnic Minorities. 🔗 The book features contributions from 15 different scholars and practitioners, offering diverse perspectives on discriminatory design in technology across various sectors. 💡 One key case study in the book explores how electronic ankle monitors, marketed as alternatives to incarceration, actually expand surveillance into communities of color rather than reducing imprisonment.