Just Code: Power, Inequality, and the Global Political Economy of IT

Co-sponsored by the Human Rights Center, this Charles Babbage Institute hosted symposium will address how code—construed broadly, from software routines to bodies of law and policy—structures and reinforces power relations. It will explore the ways that individuals and institutions use software, algorithms, and computerized systems to establish, legitimize, and reinforce widespread social, material, commercial, and cultural inequalities and power imbalances.

The event will also examine how individuals, unions, political organizations, and other institutions use code to fight for equality and justice. The papers will draw from across the humanities and qualitative social sciences, including disciplines such as anthropology, sociology, science and technology studies, and communications. 

Event Agenda for Just Code: Power, Inequality and The Global Political Economy of IT