Schedule > 6. Categories & Classification Systems
Week 4: Thu, Jan 28
One prevalent idea explored in Race After Technology is how two technological systems — race and ubiquitous computing — come together to normalize forms of social stratification. Today we will look at categorization and classification as both a psychological and social phenomenon, and consider how various technologies (economic systems, computing infrastructures, laws, etc.) work to both reify and challenge existing ways of categorizing and classifying people.
Slides
Readings
- Massey, Douglas (2007). Chapter 1. How Stratification Works. Categorically unequal: The American stratification system.
Recommended
- Bowker & Star (1998). Sorting things out: Classification and its consequences. Introduction. MIT Press.
- Vargas, Jose Antonio (June, 2011). My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant.
- McDermott, Ray (1993). The acquisition of a child by a learning disability. Understanding Practice: Perspectives on Activity and Context .