The Moral Affordances of Construing People as Cases: How Algorithms and the Data They Depend on Obscure Narrative and Noncomparative Justice

IF 4.1 1区 社会学 Q1 SOCIOLOGY
Barbara Kiviat
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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Like many modes of rationalized governance, algorithms depend on rendering people as cases: discrete entities defined by regularized, atemporal attributes. This enables the computation behind the behavioral predictions organizations increasingly use to allocate benefits and burdens. Yet it elides another foundational way of understanding people: as actors in the unfolding narratives of their lives. This has epistemic implications because each cultural form entails a distinct information infrastructure. In this article, I argue that construing people as cases carries consequences for moral reasoning as well because different moral standards require different information. While rendering people as cases affords adjudications of comparative justice, parsing noncomparative justice often necessitates narrative. This explains why people frequently reach for stories that sit beyond the representations of individuals found in records and databases. With this argument, I contribute to the sociology of categorization/classification and draw broader conclusions about modern systems of bureaucratic, computational, and quantitative governance.
将人视为案例的道德启示:算法和数据如何依赖于模糊的叙述和非比较正义
像许多合理化治理模式一样,算法依赖于将人作为案例来呈现:由规则化的局部属性定义的离散实体。这使得组织越来越多地使用行为预测背后的计算来分配利益和负担。然而,它忽略了理解人的另一种基本方式:作为他们生活叙事中的行动者。这具有认识意义,因为每种文化形式都包含着不同的信息基础设施。在这篇文章中,我认为将人理解为案例也会对道德推理产生影响,因为不同的道德标准需要不同的信息。虽然将人视为案件提供了比较正义的裁决,但解析非比较正义往往需要叙事。这就解释了为什么人们经常去寻找那些超出记录和数据库中个人表现的故事。通过这一论点,我为分类/分类的社会学做出了贡献,并对官僚、计算和定量治理的现代系统得出了更广泛的结论。
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来源期刊
Sociological Theory
Sociological Theory SOCIOLOGY-
CiteScore
6.90
自引率
6.80%
发文量
16
期刊介绍: Published for the American Sociological Association, this important journal covers the full range of sociological theory - from ethnomethodology to world systems analysis, from commentaries on the classics to the latest cutting-edge ideas, and from re-examinations of neglected theorists to metatheoretical inquiries. Its themes and contributions are interdisciplinary, its orientation pluralistic, its pages open to commentary and debate. Renowned for publishing the best international research and scholarship, Sociological Theory is essential reading for sociologists and social theorists alike.
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