Power and Technology by Faridun Sattarov;

Author:Faridun Sattarov;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: undefined
Publisher: Book Network Int'l Limited trading as NBN International (NBNi)
Published: 2012-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

6.2.3. The Systemic View of Algorithmic Power

While the episodic and dispositional views of power draw attention to algorithms themselves, the systemic perspective on algorithmic power places emphasis on the institutional and organisational structures in which algorithms are embedded. The consequences of algorithmic power would be seen as stemming from the wider socio-technical and institutional context, where algorithms are only an element among other elements bound together through social, political, and other institutions, processes, and practices. Put differently, the systemic view of power tends to shift attention from the technical sense of an algorithm as a precise set of mathematical instructions toward the broader sense of algorithms as a set of instructions embedded into software and hardware systems to perform a certain task or action, while these systems themselves form part of the broader social, economic, and political institutional reality.

In our current digital age, institutions are increasingly becoming permeated by algorithmic technologies and practices. Within institutions, actions and tasks previously performed by persons are increasingly delegated to algorithms that mediate social interactions, economic transactions, and political decisions (e.g., Floridi 2012; Portmess & Tower 2015). On this view algorithms are increasingly constituting social, economic, political, and other institutions. As argued in Chapter 4, there is a bidirectional relationship between institutions of power and technology. In one direction, institutions of power affect technology, for example, by setting the trajectory for technological innovation and development (Halperin et al. 2005), by shaping emerging technologies (Brey 2017), or altogether resisting and effectively blocking technological innovation and development (Acemoglu & Robinson 2000). In the opposite direction, technology can affect institution of power. For example, institutions consist of relatively stable relationships and networks of people and power. The relative endurance and stability of such networks require stable networks of communication which increasingly depend on information and communication technologies (Castells 2009).

This relationship of mutual influence is also applicable to algorithmic technologies, systems and practices. One the one hand, algorithms can affect institutions. For example, sorting and profiling algorithms can result in ethically unacceptable outcomes as observed, for example, in the case of discrimination against marginalised groups (Barocas & Selbst 2016), or in the case of online advertisements being targeted at users on the basis of their perceived ethnic origin (Sweeney 2013). These are cases of algorithms affecting institutions, whereby a specific algorithmic technology and practice contributes to the perpetuation of institutionalised forms of discrimination and racism. On the other hand, there are cases in which this relationship is reversed, where institutions impact or shape algorithmic technologies and practices. For instance, the General Data Protection Regulation of the European Union, which came into force in May 2018, is expected to have some implications for how algorithms are used in processes of automated decision-making, since the regulation (arguably) creates a legal right “whereby a user can ask for an explanation of an algorithmic decision that was made about them” (Goodman & Flaxman 2017, 50).[1] This is a case of institutions affecting algorithms, whereby political and legal institutions impact the specific applications of algorithms in social affairs.

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