Scan barcode
A review by srash
Automating Inequality by Virginia Eubanks
3.0
Wanted to like this book more than I did. The arguments Eubanks makes are solid, and the best part of the book are her profiles of high-tech social programs gone awry, whether they are the social services system in Indiana, housing for the homeless programs in Los Angeles, or child abuse prediction systems in Pittsburgh. These profiles reminded me of long-form journalism, the type of in-depth reporting you see in better-quality magazines. They were well-written and included powerful anecdotes and observations.
But the introduction and the conclusion, which Eubanks devotes to advancing her own arguments about a new "digitial poorhouse," while compelling, are really boring. These sections take perfectly reasonable insights and arguments and just repeat them repeatedly in a repetitious way that I found really redundant. The result becomes tedious in the extreme. I actually read most of this book about a month ago but only finished it this week because I was bogged down in the conclusion and had a hard time mustering the urge to finish. That's a shame because Eubanks' subject is an important and timely one.
But the introduction and the conclusion, which Eubanks devotes to advancing her own arguments about a new "digitial poorhouse," while compelling, are really boring. These sections take perfectly reasonable insights and arguments and just repeat them repeatedly in a repetitious way that I found really redundant. The result becomes tedious in the extreme. I actually read most of this book about a month ago but only finished it this week because I was bogged down in the conclusion and had a hard time mustering the urge to finish. That's a shame because Eubanks' subject is an important and timely one.