The Surrogate Effect: Technoliberalism and Whiteness in a “Post” Labor Era

Abstract

<jats:p>This paper offers preliminary reflections on the relationship between the seemingly opposed logics of white supremacy and racial liberalism by sketching the contours and workings of what the authors call technoliberalism that is a part of the so-called fourth industrial revolution. The article first overviews the relationship between the discourse of “white loss,” immigration and automation in contemporary US national politics. It then turns to how technoliberal imaginaries that argue that it is robots, not racialized others, who are taking US jobs, pin their anti-racist logics on a post-racial technological future. </jats:p>

Technoliberalism and the Complementary Relationships between Humanitarian, Conservation, and Entrepreneurial Dronework in Indonesia

“…Several scholars consider capitalist technological practice as contradictory to the formation of social equality (Atanasoski and Vora, 2018; Chia, 2018; Dyer-Witheford, 1999; Pfister and Yang, 2018). For these scholars, ‘technoliberalism’ describes a corporate discourse that celebrates technology while omitting its conflicts in class and gender relations.…”

“…Here, technoliberalism includes both the economic liberalism of individual engineering decisions and the social liberalism of collective action in the game. Likewise, Atansoski and Vora (2018) identify how technoliberalism is an ideology that claims to accomplish both social liberal anti-racism and economic liberalism by employing robots and automation. As with Chia (2017), Atansoski and Vora (2018) see this as a contradiction.…”

“…Drone scholars are rightfully skeptical of these summations (Jackman and Brickell, 2022). Academics often read this rhetoric of technologies simultaneously energizing economic and social benefits as an example of efforts to elide the contradictions of capitalism, colonialism, consumerism, and ecological decay (Atanasoski and Vora, 2018; Chia, 2018; Dyer-Witheford, 1999; Pfister and Yang, 2018).…”

Memories and Motherhood in the Rhythms of Ugandan Computing

“…In this paper, we contribute to studies in technology in and from Africa and the Global South that use ethnography to analyze what we refer to as syncopated beats between globalizing processes and local contexts (Irani 2019;Odumusu 2017;Mavhunga 2014). We do not propose that technoliberal discourses float around the world in ready-made forms (Avle et al 2020;Atanasoski and Vora 2018). 4 Instead, we illustrate how globalizing discourses are made workable in local contexts (Avle 2020;Beltrán;Ames 2019;Irani 2019;Chan 2013), showing how they are articulated and the ideals they represent put into practice by researchers working in Ugandan universities.…”

“…Zebia and Charity are pseudonyms used to protect anonymity as much as possible. See the Methods section.3 Stephen Kiprotich is pictured crossing the finish line to claim the Olympic gold medal in long-distance running in 2012.4 We useAtanasoski and Vora's (2018) critique of technoliberalism as an ideology of Silicon Valley, representative of global computing industries, and multilateral stakeholders such as the World Bank, in which social difference, injustice, inequality are pitched as problems that digital technologies, done right, can seamlessly overcome. Technoliberalism bears the hallmarks of the "culture of no culture"(Traweek 1998, 162) in recapitulating a neutral and depoliticized form of computer science.5 Colonialist power regimes have historically established territorial control by medically intervening in women's reproductive capacities, and thus succeeded in abstracting birth as a source of data and tool of surveillance(Hunt 1999).…”