The Injustice of Fairness: Algorithmic Reparation and the Case for Redress - Softcover

Davis, Jenny L.; Williams, Apryl A.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0520418298 ISBN 13: 9780520418295

Publisher: University of California Press, 2026

Synopsis

The Injustice of Fairness shifts the foundation of algorithmic ethics, displacing “fairness” with repair and redress. A substantial and growing field, algorithmic ethics aims to mitigate harms and realize social good. The fairness paradigm dominates this field across AI, machine learning, and other data-driven domains. So far, efforts toward fairness have been unsuccessful, with algorithmic harms that propagate and persist. Jenny L. Davis and Apryl A. Williams explain why algorithmic fairness perpetually fails and present “algorithmic reparation” in its place.
 
The stakes are high because algorithms are everywhere―from law to love, healthcare to housing, education to media, and beyond. More than lines of code or mathematical operations, algorithms carry history, configure the present, and are actively shaping the future. Set against a backdrop of societal instability and technological transformation, The Injustice of Fairness offers a careful critique, original framework, and blueprint for social change with algorithms as entry points and levers.

About this title

About the Author

Jenny L. Davis is Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Chair and Professor of Sociology at Vanderbilt University and Honorary Professor of Sociology at the Australian National University. Blending sociology with tech studies, she explores the ways design shapes society and society shapes design. Her previous book, How Artifacts Afford, decodes how politics and power are embedded in everyday technologies.

Apryl A. Williams is Associate Professor of Digital Studies and Communication at the University of Michigan and Faculty Associate at Harvard University's Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society. Her previous book, Not My Type, offers a powerful critique of how technology replicates and amplifies real-world social inequities in digital culture.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of California Press
• Publication date: 2026
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0520418298
• ISBN 13: 9780520418295
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 173