The Social Life of Algorithms

This course examines algorithms as social and cultural objects—products of human labor, politics, and imagination, as much as of mathematics and computation. Drawing on interdisciplinary perspectives from Science and Technology Studies (STS), media studies, and critical data studies, students will explore how algorithms shape and are shaped by social values, institutions, and practices. Topics include algorithmic bias and discrimination, automation and labor, surveillance and governance, platform infrastructures, and the cultural imaginaries of artificial intelligence. Through case studies ranging from social media feeds to predictive policing and generative AI, the course asks: What does it mean to live in a world increasingly governed by algorithms? How do we study, critique, and intervene in algorithmic systems?